Acquiring outside talent begins from within Acquiring outside talent begins from within The home-grown talent acquisition department at Suncoast Credit Union relies on analytics and communication to keep the ranks full. June 1, 2021 by Marc Rapport, CreditUnions.com Not all of the nearly 2,000 full-time equivalent employees at Suncoast Credit Union ($13.5B, Tampa, FL) are there by way of Christopher Townsend. But, a lot of them are. Townsend is the talent acquisitions manager that has helped the big Florida cooperative hire more than 1,300 of the employees who work for Suncoast at its offices, one of its 74 branches, or at home. He was recruited to Suncoast himself 18 years ago and joined the talent acquisitions department five years ago after stints as a teller supervisor, loan officer, trainer, and youth marketing manager.