hiring for scale: 13 hacks in 30 minutes | talent connect 2016
TRANSCRIPT
Leela Srinivasan Chief Marketing Officer, Lever
Hiring for Scale: 13 Hacks in 30 Minutes
Amanda Bell Director of Recruiting, Lever
2012 Year founded
Source: MRINetwork, May 2016
Lever’s mission: To scale and share hiring through effortless collaboration
2 Years on the market
~100 Employees
$32M Raised
1100+ Customers
144% Headcount growth
NEWSFLASH! We are still in a candidate-driven market
86% Recruiters who feel it’s a candidate-driven market
62% Employers who feel it’s a candidate-driven market
Source: MRINetwork, May 2016
Before we plunge in…
done as an experiment or test before introducing something more widely.
Blow up your job descriptions
HACK #
1
Most job descriptions are a combo of depressing and ridiculous
Source: Twitter @_vicksolo via Buzzfeed
Forget job descriptions, create impact descriptions
What will your new hire:
q Own? q Teach? q Learn? q Improve?
What will they actually do?
Interview like you mean it
HACK #
2
Instead of this... … try this Depressing, unrealistic job description
Inspiring impact descriptions with sufficient context
Specific, complementary areas to delve into
Little to no guidance to every interviewer
Evaluating whether their skills and experience raise the bar
Deciding if you’d enjoy having a beer with a candidate
Use technology to create a more consistent process
Get your candidates comfortable
HACK #
3
Interviewing should not feel like this…
Put your candidates in the position that is most similar to their actual working environment: at home and with a computer, not in
front of a white board doing coding challenges.
Chris Shaw, Director of Talent,
Simulate the work environment
Source beyond the obvious places
HACK #
4
Hiring has changed quite a bit
10 fresh talent sources
AngelList
GitHub, StackOverflow
Dribbble
Sourcing.io
Conference speaker lists
App stores
Quora
Amazon book reviews
Personal blogs
Meetup.com (and actual MeetUps)
Don’t give up on top prospects so easily
HACK #
5
Build relationships, don’t just push jobs – and adjust approach based on (non-)responses
Scenario 1: No response
Scenario 2: Timing is off
● Try them again (politely)
● And again (politely)
● If you prod politely, you may guilt them into a response
● You may also get a referral
● They decline: Find out why - then follow up in the logical timeframe (e.g., post-bonus or vesting cliff)
● You fill the position: Tag the candidate so you can find them 3, 6, 9 months from now when the next role opens up
Make LinkedIn your employer brand machine
HACK #
6
FACT
The whole world is checking out your LinkedIn profile. And the profiles of your employees.
10,000 employees x 250 unique, non-employee 1st degree connections =
2. 5 million engagement opportunities
Employee connections on LinkedIn beat Company Page followers by a mile
vs.
at least 18x the 1st degree footprint
We gave our team guardrails – but we also let them (and wanted them to) be themselves
80 percent of our team overhauled their profiles
I used to think being a woman in tech meant simply accepting and overcoming aggressive workplaces…
At Lever, I am thrilled to be an integral piece of a diverse, inclusive, engaged, and impassioned team.
At Lever we really walk the talk when it comes to talent.
We put a ton of thought into how we hire and onboard people, as well as how we help them grow in their careers.
Turn your newest hires into evangelists
HACK #
7
It is literally never too early to get your people fired up
get
Do more than just ask for referrals: GET SPECIFIC
HACK #
8
1 in 16 Referred candidates is hired
Source: Lever’s Little Grey Book of Recruiting Benchmarks, 2016
Take the time to educate employees
Smaller pool of more highly
qualified candidates.
Educate employees about what you’re looking for prior to asking
for referrals
Internally, talk about hiring. ALL. THE. TIME.
HACK #
9
Showcase hiring like you showcase sales wins
Source jam in progress Slack erupts with each new hire
Get feedback from people who didn’t make it
HACK #
10
Learn from everyone who goes through your hiring process
We used to run NPS surveys among candidates that we didn’t hire - and then ask follow-up questions to find out how we could improve our candidate experience.
Kirsti Grant, CEO & Co-Founder, Populate (Former VP Talent @ Vend)
Reference-check your heart out
HACK #
11
Do not under any circumstance short-change reference checking
Don’t Do
● Rely solely on references provided by the candidate
● Find other references who are mutual connections
Recommended reading from Josh Hannah: bit.ly/reference-checking
With thanks to David Skok of Matrix Partners
● Let the reference drive the call
● Lead the call; probe for exact details on the candidate’s achievements
● Expect the reference to proactively raise negative points
● Find ways to frame ‘weakness’ questions to get accurate answers
Seed diversity & inclusion early. Never let up.
HACK #
12
D&I is really hard. Smaller companies can take more radical approaches.
The “guys” jar The “no resume” campaign The diversity dashboard
Whatever size your company, find, celebrate and empower your D&I ambassadors
Reposting employee blog content on LinkedIn and Medium had measurable impact
Invest in the tools to do it right
HACK #
13
Other functions are way better at equipping themselves to manage leads
business.linkedin.com lever.co
Summary #1 Blow up your job descriptions. #2 Interview like you mean it. #3 Get your candidates comfortable. #4 Source beyond the obvious places. #5 Don’t give up on top prospects so easily. #6 Make LinkedIn your employer brand machine. #7 Turn your newest hires into evangelists. #8 “Call and coffee” your referrals. #9 Internally, talk about hiring. All. The. Time. #10 Get feedback from people who didn’t make it. #11 Reference-check your heart out. #12 Seed diversity & inclusion early. Never let up. #13 Invest in the tools to do it right.
Questions?
Leela Srinivasan Chief Marketing Officer, Lever linkedin.com/in/leelasrinivasan
Amanda Bell Director of Recruiting, Lever linkedin.com/in/amandabell
Thank you!