Founders Forum: Startup Recruiting Q&A
In early March, HR executive search and consulting firm, Frederickson Pribula Li partnered with Fresco Capital, a global early stage venture capital investor and innovation agency, to host a Founders Forum about talent for Fresco’s portfolio companies. Among our participants were ten seed and series A startups who raised between $500K and $5M in their most recent round, are based in San Francisco, and represent industries as diverse as ed-tech, B2B SaaS, and IoT.
Below are highlights from the Q&A discussion at the event:
As startups grow from the founders to the early team to scaling up, the approach to talent has to evolve along with the company. What should founders be doing at the early stage to make this evolution more successful?
It’s inevitable that your talent acquisition strategy is going to change dramatically as you scale. What worked to bring in employee number 3, 5, and 10 rarely ever works when you’re bringing in employee number 103, 105, and 110. The key is in rebuilding your processes and communication channels in an intentional and thoughtful manner. For the former, you may have started off taking every final candidate out to lunch, but is that really feasible moving forward? Is there a better way to assess and close the candidate than during the meal? In terms of communications, an ad hoc conversation on a recent candidate in the breakroom is not going to translate past the early startup stage. There will come a time where you will not personally be interviewing every candidate, nor should you when you’re busy fine-tuning your product or prototyping for your investors. This is where a more proactive, formal communication channel will help keep everyone looped into the process so you can keep a pulse on what’s going on and red flag where you might need to come in to close the superstar candidates.
In addition to bringing bodies in the door, your talent management strategy, i.e., engagement and retention, will also be more critical as you scale. From a culture standpoint, how do you want it built and translated across multiple teams, layers, and geographies? How do you empower every employee to become an ambassador, both from a recruiting and a branding perspective? How do you make sure diversity and inclusion are part of the conversation? How do you promote and train first-time managers? Do you offer lateral moves or are career paths more linear? What is your compensation philosophy as you scale? The list goes on. Here’s where you should think about hiring a strategic Head of HR (recommended at 75ee+) or retaining an HR advisor (5ee+) who understands the complexity of scaling up and who can ask the questions you didn’t think of. Uber and Thinx are prime examples of when HR is brought in too late to save the employment brand and culture.
When it comes to sourcing talent, it’s difficult for new startups to stand out at job fairs or through online job boards. What non-traditional approaches should companies try for talent sourcing?
Before we even get sourcing, let’s first talk about your employment brand. Whether you’re sourcing through traditional or non-traditional channels, it’s nearly impossible to engage candidates without an attractive brand. Compare it to throwing a party–you can spend a lot of money on catering, decorations, and a DJ, but if your guests don’t know who you are, they’re unlikely to show up. This is where a meaningful, well thought out, and truthful employment brand comes into play to help candidates select in and feel connected/engaged.
Now, once your brand is on point and your internal team is bought in, how do you get creative? Some interesting ideas we’ve heard recently: (1) have your employees invite-a-friend to happy hour and go for the soft sell, (2) have your recruiters identify the candidates and design the messaging, then have the hiring manager send the message directly through LinkedIn, and (3) if you can scrounge up a phone number, try sending them a text message to start the conversation. There are no written rules when it comes to sourcing strategy, so let your imagination run wild.
Warm introductions are always helpful when approaching candidates but sometimes cold outreach is the only option. Are there any suggestions you have for success with cold outreach?
There’s really no such thing as a cold call anymore. Even if they don’t know you, they may know your brand or they’ll quickly look you or your company up on Google, and they’ll form an opinion in an instant. This is where your employment brand will play a huge role — from their experience perusing your website, browsing personal social media outlets, and when you’re larger, the comments on your Glassdoor. We can’t stress enough how important the branding “experience” is for potential candidates.
And our biggest piece of advice for doing cold outreach? A) Don’t stop after one message. According to a LinkedIn Global Study of 26,000 fully-employed professionals, 64% of people are not actively looking for new positions, but 90% would be willing to listen if a great opportunity came along. It may take several touches for the candidate to actually engage with you. We all understand life gets busy sometimes but your repeated touches and check-ins will show them how serious you are in bringing them onboard. Everyone likes to be in-demand. Finally, they may not be looking at this particular minute but if their boss just ticked them off, or if they’re suddenly hesitant about the future growth their company can offer, you want to be fresh on their mind. Timing is everything. B) Spend some time on crafting the right message. We saw our response rate double when we shortened our messages, included some insightful statistics, and mentioned something about their background that stood out. Making it personal takes some time but it pays off.
Most companies end up with an interview process that reflects their culture, either intentionally or unintentionally. Are there some common patterns and also some myths to avoid when it comes to creating a successful interview process?
Preparation is the key to a successful interview process. It’s the little things: How was the candidate greeted when they walked through the door? Did you offer them a beverage? Were they introduced to members of the team as they made their way through the office? Did they have a full list of who they were meeting with? Thinking through the candidate experience beforehand will ensure the he/she feels valued.
As far as the actual interviews go, it’s not only important for the interview team to know which questions to ask, but also who asks what. If the interview team is unprepared, the best candidates will notice and it will sway their decision one way or the other. There’s nothing more frustrating than to answer the same question multiple times for different people.
In designing your questions, make sure all interested parties are aligned and map out the responsibilities of the role. Outline the exact skill-sets required for each element of the role, then create questions that test for those specific behaviors. If you are hiring for a marketing role, consider adding some work sample elements to your interview process. Maybe have them submit an article or project they recently worked on. Or if they’ll be selling your product to vendors, consider a mock sales pitch in front of a panel. In addition to vetting past performance through behavioral interviewing, you can simulate the work environment as closely as possible and see how the candidate will react.
The best candidates are either not looking to switch roles or, if they are looking, have multiple opportunities. What advice do you have for closing candidates in general, especially the ones who may not be looking or who have multiple offers?
Closing the candidate starts from day 1 — not just at the offer stage. Designate a team member who is solely responsible for debriefing and checking in with the candidate at every stage of the process to make them feel valued. These debriefs will also help you get a pulse on how your company is stacking up against the competition. Maybe you need to move faster or offer a benefit that they’re not getting from their other potential opportunities. Once the connection is formed, you want to close the candidate emotionally before compensation negotiations come into play. There’s no point in extending an offer to a candidate that is not emotionally and intellectually bought into the role. They will turn it down even if the money is good. If you are their top opportunity and you have treated them well along the way, they will tell you that you are their #1. We’ve never had a candidate tell us a role is their #1 priority and not close.
Saying no to candidates is, in some ways, more challenging than getting someone to say yes. Yet, throughout the hiring process, most candidates will ultimately hear no so the potential positive or negative impact they can have on the company’s reputation is significant. What can companies do to say no and yet still create a positive experience for these candidates?
Turning-off candidates is painful no matter how many times you do it. From the candidate perspective, it can be immensely frustrating to feel powerless to a company that has kicked you to the curb. We have a lot of candidates who have voiced this frustration, especially after going through multiple interviews. Be thoughtful about the message you are giving and the reason they are not moving along in the process. What is your philosophy? Does everyone receive a generic turn-off email or do you take the time to call them and break down your decision more concisely?
We would recommend the latter. Give them the truthful, albeit slightly watered-down, reason for why they aren’t receiving an offer or moving forward. If they didn’t come off as ‘driven’ enough to succeed in the role, phrase it as a misalignment with the role rather than focusing on their shortcomings on a personal or professional level. The general rule of thumb is, the more time you spend with the candidate during the interview process, the more thoughtful and high-touch you should be with the follow-up. If it was just a first phone screen, then maybe a quick email is fine. If it was a day-long on-site interview, follow up with a phone call or voicemail, then shoot them an email to make sure they got the message. This also gives you a chance to hear their feedback on the process, which will help you refine it moving forward. If they’re unhappy with the way things took place in the interview time, it’s better that they communicate it with your team rather than writing an angry Glassdoor post. And who knows, just because they’re not right for your team right now doesn’t mean they won’t be right in the future. Or recommend someone who will be.
Mathilde Pribula is a partner at HR executive search and consulting firm Frederickson Pribula Li, where she leads the search practice for their high-growth startup, tech unicorn, and Fortune 100 clients.
Frederickson Pribula Li is a global HR executive search and consulting firm that recruits innovative HR and People leaders for innovative companies. Clients include Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Mozilla, SoFi, Funding Circle, Fitbit, GE Digital, and Genentech.
Fresco Capital is a global early stage venture capital investor and innovation agency with locations in Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.
