The Breakthrough Hiring Show: Modern Recruiting, AI, and Talent Strategy
Aug 4, 2026 · 48 min · 15 segments
Host James Mackey sits down with Jennifer Anker, a talent acquisition executive who has built and led recruiting organizations at Illumio, Twilio…
Jennifer AnkerGuestJames MackeyHostSo before we recorded, you were telling me a little bit about how your dad was such a huge influence on who you've become as a person and professionally as an executive.
Yeah, early on, I knew I had a love of animals and I knew I wanted to do something along those lines.
I went to an old East Coast school that had old teachers that, you know, I remember I was in a calculus class and it was with about 10 men and me.
And the teacher never called on me, never raised, never let me answer any of the questions and didn't think I should be in that class.
And my dad was not having it and gave him the riot act and turns out and supported me and helped me through it all.
And then turned out at the end that I was the only one who passed the AP exam.
Do you always tell you just help to develop the psychology where you could bulldoze through any obstacle?
Women have girls and then women have a harder time with imposter syndrome and all of that.
And I still have that, but I have him in the back of my head reminding me that it doesn't matter if I'm a woman or a man, I can do it.
And I can, I should keep pursuing what I want to do, regardless of what anybody else tells me.
And that has translated, like I said, into, I think I mentioned an early career of animal training versus even just getting into recruiting and not being scared to try something new.
it's more about
not feeling those things to begin with? Or is it really just more of an emotion of overriding it? Do you feel imposter syndrome? Do you feel like it gets easier over time to just not feel that way? Or is it something that you think is just like constant? It's very normal for people to just constantly have to override that.
I mentor a lot of women and on my team, I have a lot of women and I hear about it a lot.
And I think it's not something that, there are some people, some women who don't have it, but I think even if it's not about not having those feelings, it's about not letting them freeze you so that you can't move forward.
So before we recorded, you were telling me a little bit about how your dad was such a huge influence on who you've become as a person and professionally as an executive.
Yeah, early on, I knew I had a love of animals and I knew I wanted to do something along those lines.
I went to an old East Coast school that had old teachers that, you know, I remember I was in a calculus class and it was with about 10 men and me.
And the teacher never called on me, never raised, never let me answer any of the questions and didn't think I should be in that class.
And my dad was not having it and gave him the riot act and turns out and supported me and helped me through it all.
And then turned out at the end that I was the only one who passed the AP exam.
Do you always tell you just help to develop the psychology where you could bulldoze through any obstacle?
Women have girls and then women have a harder time with imposter syndrome and all of that.
And I still have that, but I have him in the back of my head reminding me that it doesn't matter if I'm a woman or a man, I can do it.
And I can, I should keep pursuing what I want to do, regardless of what anybody else tells me.
And that has translated, like I said, into, I think I mentioned an early career of animal training versus even just getting into recruiting and not being scared to try something new.
it's more about
not feeling those things to begin with? Or is it really just more of an emotion of overriding it? Do you feel imposter syndrome? Do you feel like it gets easier over time to just not feel that way? Or is it something that you think is just like constant? It's very normal for people to just constantly have to override that.
I mentor a lot of women and on my team, I have a lot of women and I hear about it a lot.
And I think it's not something that, there are some people, some women who don't have it, but I think even if it's not about not having those feelings, it's about not letting them freeze you so that you can't move forward.
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