Solving the Right Problem: How Victor Gaines Built a Data-Driven TA Function at Wellstar Health

Most TA leaders are measuring the wrong things. Victor Gaines has spent 20 years fixing that. As AVP of Talent Acquisition at Wellstar Health Systems, where his team hires **14,000+ people annually**, Victor has led recruiting innovations across healthcare, fintech, food service, and media. In this conversation, he shares the real work behind two of his proudest career wins: cutting turnover by **60% at Comcast** using a validated assessment tool, and rebuilding clinical hiring at Aveanna **from scratch during COVID** by going fully digital and improving efficiency by **200%**. But none of it works if you're **solving the wrong problem**. Listen in as Victor breaks down how to identify what your business actually needs, why most TA dashboards are "decoration," and how to build the credibility that earns you a seat at the table. ### **Key Takeaways:** - \[01:59] What shaped Victor's approach to solving TA problems at scale. - \[04:25] How a validated assessment at Comcast reduced turnover by 60%. - \[08:10] Building a fully digital hiring engine at Aveanna during COVID. - \[13:32] The framework Victor uses to identify business priorities. - \[18:51] The ‘5 Whys’ to identify the root cause of business pain. - \[20:40] How a phased adoption strategy is making Phenom CRM stick at Wellstar. - \[25:39] How to safeguard your priorities and say no without being seen as difficult. - \[29:00] ROI, sunk cost fallacy, and smarter HR tech decisions ### **Resources Mentioned:** - **Victor Gaines:** LinkedIn - **Ryan Dull:** LinkedIn | [ryan.dull@sagemarkhr.com](mailto:ryan.dull@sagemarkhr.com) - Wellstar Health System - Aveanna Healthcare - Phenom - ICIMS - HighMatch - Paradox - Workday US **Ideas Worth Sharing:** - "You can spend millions of dollars trying to solve the wrong problem. Once you understand the problem, your success becomes much easier." - Victor Graines - “You also have to know where the real issues often are. And I think… 80+% of the time, it's something in the business. It might be comp. It might be hiring managers not doing the right thing…  And you find power in finding the truth and then speaking truth.” - Victor Graines - “Having a meaningful strategy gives you leverage for saying yes where you need to say yes, and no where you need to say no.” - Victor Graines **About Victor Gaines:** **Victor P. Gaines, II** is the AVP of Talent Acquisition at Wellstar Health System, where his team manages over 14,000 hires annually. With nearly two decades of executive TA experience across healthcare, fintech, telecommunications, and consumer goods, he has led high-volume recruiting transformations at companies including Comcast, Fiserv, Cigna, Aveanna Healthcare, and Papa John's. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Kentucky and a Master's in Organizational Psychology from St. Joseph's University. This episode is brought to you by **SageMark HR.** SageMark HR can help you: ✔ Improve your talent practices and make better, more informed people decisions. ✔ Identify opportunities to improve your talent practices and deliver tangible business results. ✔ Bridge the gap from "traditional" to modern recruiting, without the painful learning curve. Learn more at www.sagemarkhr.com #Talent #Recruiting #HRTech