Lever’s Most Memorable Hiring Stories, Part 2
Job searching can be so extremely stressful. Submitting resume after resume for generic job descriptions that sound all the same, how are you supposed to learn about a company culture or potential team members you’d be working closely with?
In response, we’ve begun telling employee hiring stories in our blog, Inside.Lever. From “extreme” lengths we went to hire an engineer, to new hires we housed in a spare laundry room, to team members who moved 5,000 miles for the job… We’ve been hearing great feedback from candidates about how much they learned from these stories. But within each, there are also so many lessons about hiring and building teams.
We’d tell every employee’s story if we could, as there’s a fundamentally human story to tell and something to learn from each of them. But of course, some stand out for being particularly memorable — here are 4 of those stories.
Kelsey Hennegen, Business Development Manager
The one who turned around at the airport
Summer of 2015, we were searching for our first hire in Business Development to manage relationships with external partners and integrations. Searching for the “first” of anything is especially challenging, since the person in that role will end up defining much of it.
There were plenty of applicants — stick a “Business Development” title on something, and resumes from “business”-types (e.g. MBAs) start pouring in. But what most applicants lacked were Leveroo-traits like being able to navigate through extreme ambiguity and develop deep empathy for our users, as well as the technical chops to interface with our engineers and developers of our partner companies.
Kelsey, as a Recruiting / People Ops Manager for a startup with no formal BizDev experience, didn’t seem qualified on paper. But the strong endorsement from the referrer made us take another look. She was also a customer, a strong advocate that had purchased Lever for her company. After the very first phone interview with Sarah, we realized what Kelsey lacked in experience, she made up for it with her startup recruiting experience and pure potential. Kelsey happened to have a long layover in San Francisco the following week, so we rushed to schedule her for an on-site. She did well in the various meetings in the morning, and was back at SFO in the afternoon when she got a call.
“I was about to get on the plane back to SoCal when I got a phone call asking if I could come back. After some begging at the airline counter, I got my flight changed to that night, and went right back to the office to complete the final Career Trajectory interview, in addition to a meeting with the founders. What was supposed to be a lunch and two interviews ended up being a full-blown whirlwind of a day.”
“Everything seemed really sudden — in one moment, I was living my normal life in San Diego, and the next I was packing up everything to move to San Francisco. I had just bought and implemented Lever at my company — I knew firsthand how powerful the product was, and it just felt right.”
Recruiting lesson: Don’t be afraid of breaking the rules and process, and always, always invest in potential.
Derek Chang, Talent Analytics Consultant
The one who took us 9 months to hire
We met Derek in 2014 when Lever was just a dozen people, and he was running recruiting ops for a fast-growing startup. Through our interactions, he became one of our favorite people in the talent space, though he was never actually a customer. In fact, Derek holds a unique distinction of being the only person who believed in the product so much, he paid for Lever out of his own pocket while trying to convince the rest of his company to move off a competitor’s product. One thing that unites Leveroos, back then and to present day, is passion for building great companies through exceptional HR/recruiting. Plus, Derek is insanely smart, humble, and funny to boot. This guy was a total Leveroo, he just didn’t know it yet.
“I’m a pretty loyal guy, and couldn’t even *think* about leaving my previous startup without feeling insanely guilty — I was one of the early employees and a core team member. But a coffee meeting changed everything. Jen and I talked about Lever’s mission, and I told her I was getting goosebumps because it was resonating with me so much. A few days later, I came in to talk with Sarah, and felt myself becoming even more bought in. She told me about the opportunity of getting to apply my skills in building teams to all present and future customers of Lever, and helping those teams become more data-savvy, an area I’m really passionate about. I asked Sarah what role she had in mind for me, and she laid out the vision for a role that eventually became Talent Analytics Consultant. These weren’t even interviews yet — just casual conversations about the future of the product, upcoming challenges, and vision for the company, and I realized I wanted in.”
We had known Derek for months before we realized he’d be an amazing Leveroo, and we created a candidate profile for him in Lever’s Lever account in January 2015. For months after that, various Leveroos had various touch points in form of coffee, lunch, and emails, until we floored it in September, making Derek’s hiring journey 9 months long! And it was totally worth it.
Recruiting lesson: Don’t be afraid of playing the long game, top talent is worth the wait.
Sarah Goldman, Account Executive
The one who came from an unexpected referral
Sarah never imagined leaving her previous startup — she was completely in love with the sales culture, the leaders, the excitement of helping grow a company. But last summer, a re-org eliminated her position, which gave her the opportunity to travel solo for 2 months. During that time, she did a mental re-set and reflected on what was important for her in the next step of her life and career.
After returning to San Francisco though, her job search was not going well. “I realized just how lucky I had been in my previous startup, which was a very inclusive, diverse community. Most sales teams I interviewed with were entirely male, for example, and I didn’t vibe well with hiring managers. One guy gave me an offer after the first on-site, and when I was caught off-guard and asked for more time and opportunity to learn more about the team, he said the position was already filled and withdrew the offer.”
Around this time, her former Director of Sales Jess knew about Sarah’s struggles, and advised her to check out Lever. Jess knew Lever’s Sales Recruiter Michael, and though she wasn’t looking for a new position, had been impressed with the people and culture. (Michael’s own Memorable Hiring Story is here.)
“So I connected with Michael, and that’s when I really warmed up to Lever. He was so genuine and happy to chat with me even though technically, there weren’t any Account Executive openings at the time. He said he could try to make it work though, and invited me to an on-site. Before I walked into the office, I called my dad for last-minute support, and he told me to not get my hopes up too high since there weren’t any openings.”
But Google Maps led her to the building next door! “I was super stressed about being late! But Saum, Director of Sales, immediately put me at ease, saying, “You look panicked, it’s ok! Everyone makes mistakes.” What a great first impression. The rest of the interviewers were challenging but extremely thoughtful with the questions they asked. The interviews felt like real conversations about getting to know me not only as a sales rep, but a potential team member. The questions really challenged me to think deeply about myself, my values, and goals so honestly — it kind of felt therapeutic.”
“I called my dad back to gush, telling him that even if I didn’t get the job, it was refreshing to have been through such a positive interview experience.”
Meanwhile, Michael debriefed with the team and worked with Lever’s CFO Eileen to try to open up a role for Sarah, when she received some unexpected news from her former boss Jess, who had referred her to Lever in the first place. “She told me there was a possibility of re-joining her team, and I was shocked — I absolutely loved my previous startup, and if it had just been a few days before, would have taken up the offer without any hesitation.” But by then, she was really intrigued by Lever. When Sarah told Michael about this development, he had a silent heart attack because he had really gone to bat for her internally in opening up the Account Executive role.
“It was the hardest decision of my professional career, going back and forth a lot between the two options. Mostly, I was so grateful to even be in that position — I really felt like there was no “bad” choice. Ultimately, what it came down to was wanting a fresh start and learning a new product, business, and team from scratch to maximize my own growth opportunities.”
Reflecting now, the biggest takeaway for Sarah has been the importance of people and genuine relationships. “From the immediate trust that Michael was able to establish with me, with various Leveroos like Saum, Kelly, Eileen believing in me, but also Jess (my former manager), who truly wanted the best for me no matter which team I joined. She even gave the most honest and professional reference call to Lever. I can’t overemphasize the importance of finding these kinds of leaders who will invest in you and help you reach the best decision, even if it goes against their personal interests.”
Recruiting Lesson: You don’t have to take headcount restrictions at face value. It’s always worth making a case for a candidate you believe in.
Zeus Lalkaka, Engineering Lead
The one that got away becomes the one who came back!
“My biggest professional regret is not joining Lever earlier when I had the chance,” says Zeus unabashedly. But let’s back up for the full story:
Zeus’ first interaction with Lever was back in 2013, when the team was just a handful of engineers with a handful of customers and comically small revenue. “I applied because I noticed that applying to companies using Lever was a way better experience than any competing product.”
Zeus then had a great introductory call and initial technical screen with Nate and was invited to San Francisco the following week. But another startup gave him a time-limited, “exploding” offer, which he accepted and canceled the rest of his interviews.
Although he loved the people and the product he was building, something felt missing in his year at the other startup. “I don’t think I realized it then, but I couldn’t grow as much as I wanted because the company strategy was to exit as quickly as possible — it wasn’t a mission-driven place.” So when the company was sold to Google, Zeus picked the job search right back up and remembered Lever. Luckily, Nate remembered him too — and quickly invited him on-site.
“I remember the interviews going really, really well. I loved being asked questions that were related to what I’d be working on day-to-day, but also challenged me and taught me something new. Other companies were asking me to think through inane whiteboarding sessions that focused on memory as opposed to reliable indicators of how I’d actually perform on the job.”
“The other clincher for me was the Career Trajectory interview conducted by Randal, a two-hour deep-dive into my professional history that helped me reflect on my own decision-making patterns, core values, and goals. The depth of questions and sincerity from Randal made me feel like the team was really interested in getting to know me as an individual and assess how I could fit in and contribute. This all showed me what the company really cared about in identifying potential team members.”
Zeus even got to be part of a Welcome GIF, when another offer letter was signed the same day. “I was going to sit back, but Nate was all, “No, no, come on in!” I really felt included even though I wasn’t even part of the company yet — it was a glimpse of how the team was aware the little things that people can do to make someone feel welcome.”
When his own offer came in, Zeus felt good about the opportunity but wanted to see other interviews through. “Nate and I kept close in communication as I updated him about other companies and offers. He surprised me with lots of candid perspectives on not just evaluating offers, but career advice in general. That’s one of Nate’s strengths, providing objective perspectives while showing genuine empathy. He truly wanted best for me, even if that meant not joining Lever.”
“Reflecting on my different options, my decision came down to culture and the mission. It’s not hard to find startups that promise you the world with the potential financial upside or a crazy unicorn trajectory — but Lever was the only one where every single person believed in a mission wholeheartedly and were committed to doing right by it. Leveroos were there because they’re truly design-driven and focused on creating a seamless product for anyone involved in the most important challenge of a business: hiring.”
Zeus later became Lever’s first eng team lead. He still stands by his claim that the biggest professional regret of his career is not joining Lever in 2013 instead of early 2015, though he admits he can’t exactly complain with how things turned out.
For other applicants, he has this advice: “It sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s true — it’s not just about what you do, it’s *who* you do it with. It wasn’t a few years into my career I understood and appreciated what that means. Before, I thought I was supposed to pick a cool product and get treated decently well. It wasn’t until Lever I realized what you can actually get done when you’re fully embedded in a supportive team. Interesting technical problems will come and go, but the team you’re surrounded by is what makes the biggest difference — look for a group of people who challenge you, believe in you, and energize you. You deserve that.”
Recruiting Lesson: Don’t underestimate the power of human connections in hiring. The positive feeling candidates get when they come onsite and their excitement about working with your team can be more important than anything else.
Is your hiring story next? See open roles: lever.co/jobs
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