Hiring for an Hypergrowth company
Hiring is tought. Hiring in the technology world is not different. When you start the journey of the Hyper Growth, what are the challenges you will face?
I've been hiring professionals for the software engineering field in a hyper-growth tech company for the last 5 years, including the COVID-19 pandemic time, and, in this issue, I'll explain the challenges that a tech company will have to face starting the journey of hiring in hyper-growth mode.
In this issue, I cover:
The state of the market
How do you convince somebody to change the job
The COVID-19 situation as a breakpoint
Cultural fit and Hypergrowth
Hiring from internal network works
The state of the market
Hiring people for software engineering and other jobs, like SRE, IT, it's really, really (really) difficult. I find that many people already have a job they like (which is great!). Asking a person to change their current job, it's not an easy task. You, as a recruiter on duty, have to try to capture the attention of a potential candidate on the very first message you send her/him because, most probably, you will have just one single shot.
In 2022, Eurostat, the Official European site for data and statistics, provides information about the percentage of people employed, per country, in the Information and Communication Technologies field. Below is the chart.
You can see that Nordic countries have a higher percentage of employees in tech than countries from the south or east of the European Union.
Also, in the chart below, you can see the percentage of companies, per country, that manifested that hiring people in tech was especially difficult for them.
For this, you can see that the countries in the center of Europe were the ones that struggled the most in 2022.
I remember, back in the years, that finding a good job as a software engineer was not easy at all, and the life of the professional recruiters was easier. At that time, the DOTCOMs were raising up, and, more than software engineers, the companies needed "just people that know how to make a web page". Old (not always good) times.
What I like to do is try to know about a bit the candidate I'm prowling, which is not an easy task, trying to understand her/his work interests. From there, I can try to find a spot that the candidate can find attractive. In my case, I'm not a professional recruiter, I can find time for the level of research.
How do you convince somebody to change the job?
Money, perks, technological challenge. There are many different reasons why a person can change a job. Most of the time, people feel comfortable in their current company, and they are not willing to change. There is no silver bullet to change their mind.
What I used to do, during my interviews with candidates, is to invest time to understand what that person is interested in. As I mentioned before, that might be either the money (you offer more), the perks (health assurance, ticket restaurant), the technical challenges, or the possibility to grow as a professional.
If you are lucky, your company can offer something to that person in that direction... and better. This would be a win-win for both your company and the candidate.
Also, from my experience, it’s important that both your hiring process and you are fast convincing candidates because, nowadays, you have the risk that another company could appear, at the same time, and offer this candidate +30K over your budget. What I see is that people could reject +5K of salary difference, between your offer and the one from another company. But if that other company offers +30K on top of your salary proposition, that’s a very important increment in the quality of life for the candidate. In this kind of situation, my recommendation is to be humble and honest with the candidate and tell that your company cannot reach that salary expectation right now.
The COVID-19 situation as a breakpoint
"Remote work". Nowadays, when you reach a potential candidate, one of the first questions that this person will ask you is "What is the remote working policy your company offers?".
Having a clear answer to this is key. It will save time, not only for this potential candidate but also for you.
From my experience, after the COVID-19 situation, more people prefer the work-from-home mode, or a hybrid mode, instead of going to the office every day. Here, it all depends on the policy your company has about remote work, and you, as a recruiter on duty, just have to transmit the message.
If your company offers a flexible hybrid mode, you are in a better position for hiring in tech than other companies. There is an interesting statistic from CBS News saying that in the first quarter of 2023, the rate of Americans moving for work fell to a record low of just 1.6%, when in 2019 that rate was at 6.1%, in 2000 was 20.4%, and in 1986 the rate was 45%.
Cultural fit and Hypergrowth
Each company has its own culture. Hiring a candidate that actually fits the company's culture is another key point. If you hire somebody that does not fit the company culture, the probability for that person to leave the company in less than 1 year is very high. If this happens, it means an important cost for your company.
In 2020, The National Interest US magazine published that the cost of replacing an employee, which gross salary is lower than $30,000 a year, starts at 16% of their annual pay. To backfill a more senior employee, you could be paying up to 213%.
A tech company in hypergrowth mode is not suitable for everybody. You have to select people that are open to change and play really well on the uncertainty game. Roles and people grow and change very fast, and that noise could be something that could cause difficulties, instability, or even stress, to some employees.
When you are hiring and you have a hint of doubt about a possible mismatch, related company cultural fit, or adaptation to a hypergrowth company, for the sake of everybody, it's better to find another candidate.
Hiring from internal network works
I've found that the internal network could help you to fill the open positions in your company. For example, on LinkedIn, you could find many people you worked with in the past, or from university time. You never know the situation of your fellows, if they are willing to change or not, so it's worth it to ping them.
From my experience, reaching your internal network does not warrant that you will fill in your open position. The usage of the internal networks worked to me at some point but, again, it's not a silver bullet, so I do not recommend putting all your efforts searching over your internal network.
Takeaways
The first final thought that I want to share with all of you is that I'm still learning the skill of hiring people. I do not see a clear pattern or some process to follow up and reach the goal of filling in an open position.
It's true that, nowadays, when a recruiter reaches you through LinkedIn for an open position for Software Engineering in a super nice company, most of the time you will not answer. But, if the same (or less formal) message is sent from a role-equal contact, you will, at least, read the message.
If you are hiring for your company means that you still for a while, you know the company, and you have the company culture and values. Then, when you reach a potential candidate, ask yourself “What made you change to another company last time?“. Use that answer to hire the right people for your company.