This week we discussed sections 6.3 and 6.4.
Section 6.3 — Cold Sourcing: Hire Someone You Don’t Know
- We all found this part more technically dry; most of us hadn’t really done much work on hiring funnels.
- Hiring bias: “The other issue is that folks tend to have relatively uniform networks, composed of the individuals they went to school with or worked with. By hiring within those circles, it’s easy to end up with a company whose employees think, believe, and sometimes even look similar.” Jameson said this bias can apply to technology choices — you pick the same tools you already know.
- Geoff agreed with the statement, “If you’re introverted, this will probably be an extremely unsettling experience at first.” Inaction seems the easiest because you don’t have to worry if you’re bothering anyone by reaching out to them.
- We discussed how being introverted would or would not impact the role of a manager. There’s a perspective difference about where you go to recharge versus how sociable someone is.
- Geoff thought it was interesting that customizing the cold-call message doesn’t seem to make an impact, and that people respond based on their circumstances rather than the quality of your note. Considering most of the people in this group work for a behavior change company, I’m not sure how true that statement is if put under rigor. Jamie brought up the point that these recruiters don’t have the data sets and machine learning capabilities to customize the messages.
- We all found it more motivating to have someone we know reach out instead of getting cold invites through LinkedIn.
- Candidate sourcing is high-leverage work; “candidates are more excited to chat with someone who’d be managing them.” Geoff thought so as well, as it allows you to cut through the noise. It’s a waste of everyone’s time to get through multiple rounds of interviewing only to find something you’re not willing to negotiate on later (e.g., fit with the team, your boss, the salary).
- Geoff thought that spending only an hour a week on sourcing was low. Maybe it depends on how many positions you’re filling. Jameson said it depends on the urgency as well.
- Jamie said the funnel should always be full because you never know when you’ll need people. It’s worth having coffee with people and building those relationships. This also gets to sucession planning — who will replace you when you get promoted?
- Open source contribution is also a way to get in the hiring funnel.
Section 6.4 — Hiring Funnel
- “Inbound tends to be high volume and low quality.”
- Jamie likes looking for people right out of school because they don’t have bad habits that need correcting.
- Consider what you’re going to do with people when they start as well. SentryOne has a mentoring concept where one team is where the juniors or interns go to learn good techniques and habits.
- “You also want to minimize the amount of time invested by both your team and the candidate.” Having been on the receiving end of long waits, Geoff whole-heartedly agrees with the need for efficiency.
- You need to spend time with people and nurture those relationships. You’ll gradually get comfortable and see if you’re a fit.