Qualtrics | Head of Technical, Sales + Executive Recruiting | Provo | AGE 30
Megan Tidwell’s got talent. She graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s in exercise science and as an Academic All-American on the gymnastics team. After graduation, she got hired at Qualtrics as an entry-level recruiter and “hit the tech startup lottery.” Since she joined Qualtrics in 2014, it has grown over 20x — from ~270 to almost 6k employees — and gone through major milestones including raising $330M and two successful exits: an $8B acquisition and a successful IPO in January 2021. Today, Megan leads a team of 60 recruiters across North and South America (they’ve hired 1,000 people in the last year alone!) and leads several global initiatives.
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT In July 2020, Qualtrics announced it would become an independent, publicly-traded company. It was important that certain executive roles be filled prior to the IPO date. I was asked to lead the search for six senior executive roles and get them in place before the IPO ideally — a tall order given the generally long time horizon typically associated with executive recruiting. We did it. We hired six fantastic senior executives in six months. Successfully hiring such talented C-Suite executives from other high-performing companies like Salesforce, Twilio, Microsoft, and Adobe was truly a highlight of my career. It was an extremely energizing challenge and I felt grateful to help make an impact at such a critical moment for Qualtrics. HARDEST MOMENT Change can be hard. When you’ve been at a company through so many different stages of growth, there are growing pains. I’ve come to appreciate change because it’s these tough moments where you truly find yourself stretching and growing. LEADERSHIP STYLE “Radical Candor” — care personally and challenge directly. BEST PART OF BEING YOUNG IN BUSINESS Experience can be both a blessing and a curse. Habits die hard — and not all habits fit the current circumstances, even if they had value at another time. There is power in a fresh perspective and looking at problems from a new angle. MAIN MOTIVATION People, growth, and impact are extremely motivating for me. I feel incredibly fulfilled by working with great people, solving challenging problems, and focusing on something that really matters. I’ve gotten this at Qualtrics. It’s what has kept me here for 8+ years and (call me crazy) why I think Monday is one of the best days of the week! ULTIMATE CAREER DREAM To become a Chief People Officer. But we’ll see what happens! Above all, I want to maintain a growth mindset, remain open to opportunities, and stay true to myself.