How Startups Can Build a Recruiting Machine

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Thursday April 7, 2016

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Kiran DhillonContent Marketing ManagerLever@kirandhillon4

Thanks for joining us!

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Our featured speaker

David SkokGeneral Partner Matrix PartnersForEntrepreneurs Blog@BostonVC

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There used to be two essential startup skills. Now there’s a third.

Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1WeQWae

Two core startup skills

Build a product with great product/ market fit

Build a sales and marketing machine

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● Explosion in startups● Low growth in skilled workers● Software is eating the world - everyone wants developers

What’s changed?

Demand now significantly outstrips supply - especially for technical talent

And recruiting has undergone its own revolution...

The hires that most impact your company’s performance aren’t looking for a job

Enter the third crucial startup skill

Build a recruiting machine

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Build a product with great product/ market fit

Build a sales and marketing machine

Sourcing & Sellingare the key new skills

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Recruiting well takes the entire village

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The catch: your village probably didn’t study recruiting at college

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The recruiting funnel

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CandidatesHighly

productive employees

Sourcing Evaluate & Sell

Close Train

Top of

funnel

Middle of

funnel

Sell Onboard

Top of funnel:What makes it so hard?

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Sourcing Selling

Q. When should you hire your first recruiter?

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Q. When should you hire your first recruiter?

A. Earlier than you think.

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1. They can bring more focus to your sourcing efforts

2. They’ll sell your company better than an outsourced recruiter would

3. They can build out a better candidate experience

Note: you may still need to enlist the help of a headhunter for exec roles. If you do, choose carefully.

3 reasons to hire a full-time in-house recruiter early

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A full-time recruiter does NOT mean you’re off the hook

“I have seen some companies get into trouble when team members think that having an in-house recruiter means they can now ‘pitch this problem over the fence.’

I tell clients (from CEO on down) that they are all part-time recruiters. Ensure that the CEO in particular visibly embodies this behavior.”

Jordan BurtonFounder, Burton Advisors LLC

Former Partner, ghSMART

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Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1S2rvCl

Referrals are much easier in the digital age

● Sit with employees and review networks from all past jobs

● Offer referral bonuses

● The biggest motivator for your team: a strong mission/vision

Sourcing passive candidates

Sources we like:

● AngelList - startup hires

● GitHub, StackOverflow - developers

● Dribbble - designers

● Sourcing.io - engineers

● Xing - select European talent

● LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter - all

● Conference speaker lists - all

For more tips on how to source a quality pipeline, download our free ebook: lever.co/ebook-sourcing

Why you need a strong talent brand

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Companies with a strong talent brand have

43%lower cost per hire

20%faster rate of hire

Source: LinkedIn

How to articulate your talent brand

● Consider your brand as experienced by your employees. What makes you different/ special?

● Keep in mind what motivates your target talent, e.g., technical talent:

○ opportunity to solve technical problems○ co-workers they can learn from○ opportunity to contribute to open source○ cool mission○ culture they can relate to

● Think about channels to showcase your brand

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Promoting your talent brand will boost your recruiting efforts

bit.ly/hubspot-culture1.8 million views to date

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A few thoughts on getting to Developers

● A key lesson we've learned is that engineers cannot be recruited

○ They are completely overwhelmed by LinkedIn messages and recruiters calling them a billion times

■ Especially if they're senior○ They do not respond to these messages○ We've tried a number of recruiters and they basically don't work○ We now have a dedicated in-house recruiter and we don't have her recruit engineers

● Building a technical brand and getting the team out there seems to be the only real way to have success with this community

From one of my Portfolio Companies

Know what you’re looking for in your hire

Example: key competencies expected for a Matrix Partners associate

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Middle of funnel:Who’s selling whom?

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1. Need to sell at each stage, while also evaluating

2. Need to nurture candidates

3. Need to manage your process

Byproducts of the passive candidate age

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A great candidate experience secures hires and creates advocates

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We incorporate three types of interview into evaluations

Type of interview Approach

Screening interview Initial evaluation to make sure candidate passes the bar for consideration

Topgrading interview Chronological history of the career, to understand successes, failures, and results achieved by the specific individual.

Focused interviews Conducted by team members to ensure candidates possess the core competencies.

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A few keys to successful interviewing

● Screen thoroughly to focus on top candidates

● Build rapport; mix evaluating with selling

● Assign focus areas to each interviewer; structure your feedback form accordingly

● Dig into the bad stuff, butdon’t be judgmental

Reference checking is imperative, especially for senior hires

Don’t Do

● Rely solely on references provided by the candidate

● Find other references who are mutual connections

Recommended reading: bit.ly/reference-checking

● Let the reference drive the call

● Expect the reference to proactively raise negative points

● Lead the call; probe for exact details on the candidate’s achievements

● Find ways to frame ‘weakness’ questions to get accurate answers

How to manage your process?

vs.

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Bottom of funnel:It ain’t over ‘till it’s over

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Bring in your heavyweights

Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1HUx1H0

7 ways your VCs can help you hire executives

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1. Thinking through org design and timing of key hires

2. Help with job description, especially for ‘first of its kind’ exec roles

3. Figuring out compensation

4. Sourcing candidates

5. Tracking down backdoor references

6. Interview support

7. Selling!

Onboarding:Invest for productivity

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Onboarding is absolutely critical

For more details, see see www.forentrepreneurs.com/onboarding

Hubspot Sales example

Why we invested in Lever

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Sourcing & Sellingare the key new skills

Why we invested in Lever

Traditional ATSEvaluate & sell only

LeverSource, nurture, evaluate & sell

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Recruiting well takes the entire village

Photo credit: http://bit.ly/1HUx8SX

Get your whole team hiring

“With Lever in the hands of all Mattermark employees, we've cut our time to hire for open roles in half.

Everyone from our team is sourcing candidates, referring friends, and contributing to hiring discussions.

Hiring is now a team effort; I can train new employees about how to use Lever in two minutes. It's incredibly intuitive.”

- Natasha, talent lead, Mattermark

Thank you! Questions?

For more information:www.forEntrepreneurs.com

Browse our webinar library:

https://www.lever.co/recruiting-resources

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