Cherilyn Hickman
Sparq
“The future of talent acquisition isn't about doing more, it's about doing what matters most.”
Cherilyn Hickman has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing up to 100 leaders in each category of talent acquisition. Honorees are nominated by peers or found by committees that look for excellent work wherever it happens, then chosen for the depth of their craft and their impact on hiring. This is Cherilyn's story.
Cherilyn Hickman’s career in recruiting began with a conversation at a college career fair, and grew into more than a decade of talent leadership. Today, as Director of Talent Acquisition at Sparq, she leads recruiters across the U.S. and Latin America, guiding a function that has expanded alongside the company she helped build it for.
Right out of school, Hickman entered the staffing industry, where she quickly built a strong foundation in recruiting fundamentals. She credits those early years with giving her hands-on training that’s hard to replicate elsewhere: agency life taught her speed, resilience, and how to truly evaluate talent under pressure. After a few years, she transitioned into corporate recruiting, where the mandate shifted from filling roles quickly to partnering closely with hiring managers. There, she developed a more consultative approach, advising stakeholders, aligning on expectations, and learning how internal talent strategy connects to broader business goals.
That experience paved the way for her long tenure at Sparq, where she has now spent more than 11 years. She joined as the sole corporate recruiter at headquarters, and as the company grew and evolved, so did her role. She moved into leadership, built out a team, and now serves as Director of Talent Acquisition, leading recruiters across two regions.
One of the most exciting chapters in that journey has been helping expand recruiting efforts internationally. Supporting growth in Latin America introduced her to new markets, new cultural nuances, and new hiring strategies, all while maintaining alignment with the company’s broader talent goals. Though she’s been with the same organization for over a decade, Hickman says it has never felt static. Continuous transformation within the company has allowed her to gain a wide range of experiences while building something lasting.
What Energizes Her Most
Right now, Hickman is energized by one big theme: working smarter. Over the past year, she has focused heavily on finding ways to improve efficiency across her team’s recruiting processes, adopting new technology, refining workflows, and identifying opportunities to automate manual tasks that once consumed valuable recruiter time.
A recent transition to a more capable applicant tracking system allowed her team to eliminate several manual steps and streamline communication, scheduling, and data tracking. For Hickman, those gains aren’t just about speed, they’re about impact. Her goal is to give recruiters more time back in their day so they can operate as strategic advisors to the business rather than spending their energy on administrative work.
She’s equally passionate about upskilling her team alongside these changes. As technology takes on more of the operational load, she’s helping her recruiters grow their consultative skills and deepen their partnerships with internal stakeholders, so the hours technology returns to them are reinvested in the work only people can do.
How Talent Leadership Is Evolving
Hickman has seen a dramatic shift in the recruiting landscape over the past year, especially in application volume. Roles that once attracted a few hundred applicants now bring in thousands, sometimes overnight. She suspects a mix of market factors is driving the surge, from increased layoffs to candidates using automated tools to mass-apply to jobs.
The result has made resume review more complex and time-consuming, reinforcing the need for better systems and smarter filtering tools. AI, in her view, has become a practical necessity for managing scale rather than just a buzzword.
At the same time, she’s observed a more cautious candidate market. Many professionals are hesitant to leave stable roles, even when opportunities arise, and for those who are willing to move, expectations around compensation and security have risen, requiring more thoughtful engagement from recruiters. For Hickman, today’s talent leaders must balance technology, empathy, and market awareness more carefully than ever before.
Cherilyn’s Advice for 2026
As organizations continue navigating change, Hickman encourages talent leaders to take a close look at their processes and systems. Her advice is to identify every manual, repetitive task in the recruiting lifecycle and ask a simple question: can this be automated or simplified?
Reducing administrative burden doesn’t just improve efficiency, it boosts morale. Recruiters who spend less time on repetitive tasks can focus on meaningful work like relationship-building, strategic advising, and improving the candidate experience. By continuously refining processes and embracing the right tools, Hickman believes talent teams can create better outcomes for both the business and the people doing the work.
For her, the future of talent acquisition isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what matters most.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Cherilyn. We are honored to welcome Cherilyn Hickman to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Cherilyn. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
