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<p>The post Company culture in your Start-up first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

How to be more like the Sex Pistols

Have you ever been sat in a room and had one of those ‘eureka!’ moments? I had one recently – and it was more punk than I was expecting.

I was in a workshop with Grant Leboff,  founder of Stickier Marketing.  He tells the story of when he was sat in a friend’s recording studio in Brighton in 1999 and was played a tape.  It was a conversation between Paul Cook and Steve Jones – drummer and guitarist of the quintessential punk band the Sex Pistols. The tape is of a radio station phone-in, I think it was from 1978, when they were on KSJO Radio, over in the US. 

During the phone in, a listener calls in and, live on air, fumes about how unimpressed she is with the Sex Pistols. “You ought to learn how to play music first before you cut down the Queen!”

Steve Jones responds immediately: “It’s not about the music, you silly cow!”  

This conversation is the premise for LeBoff’s book, which presents marketing in a different way and looks at how to make your marketing ‘sticky’. It’s a book I highly recommend.

What I take from the story is that the Sex Pistols were absolutely awesome at having a razor sharp focus on their audience. They built a tribe of loyal followers. You knew who was in the tribe by the clothes they wore, the way they had their hairstyle, the rebellion and anger they provoked in others who weren’t in the tribe.

This was my lightbulb moment: a call to founders on the importance of focusing on the type of tribe you want. It’s tempting to want to draw in everyone you possibly can. But in reality, you want your business to be a bit ‘Marmite’: love it or hate it. The clearer we communicate to only the right people, our willing future ‘tribe’, the less time (and money) we waste. 

It amazes me when people say “Why haven’t we seen more candidates?” Surely the objective is to see only great candidates: ultimately, you’re only searching for the right person and not wasting time with those who aren’t part of the tribe.

After all, being a Sex Pistol groupie is very different to being, say, an ABBA groupie. Sure, they’re both four-person bands but the similarities are minimal and require different energies, passions and skill sets. In the world of talent acquisition, this categorical distinction is often referred to as your EVP,  your Employer Value Proposition or Employer Brand.

When building a talent acquisition process, one of the first steps is to drill down and understand how and why you do what you do.  Yes, of course, what you’re doing is important – but ‘why’ and ‘how’ is the essence of what someone wants to be part of.  

Humans want to be part of something distinct; we inherently yearn to be in a community, group or tribe. We want to know where we fit in: our role and responsibilities. This gives us purpose. If you target and communicate your brand incredibly well, you’ll attract only those suitable. Ultimately, building a strong value proposition means you don’t waste time on people who aren’t excited by how and why you do what you do. My takeaway? Don’t be a silly cow: find, define and communicate your equivalent of: “it’s not about the music”.

If you want help understanding and developing your EVP, DM me through LinkedIn. 

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<p>The post Why Talent Acquisition is Really About Finding Your Tribe first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Here are a few tips on how to approach the recruitment process for either a copywriter or content creator to your business.

<p>The post Tips on how to recruit a content creator for your scale up first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Six Simple Tips To Prep Your Recruitment Team For Successful Hires 

Recruitment: you’d think it would be easy. After all, you know what your business needs, you know what type of person to find and you know who might be a good fit. 

But when it comes to it, there’s a lot more people in the mix than just the founder and manager. Without the right processes, it can get messy.

If I’m out on a run close to the weekend, for instance, I’ll ask myself: “Ooh! If I could do anything in the next two days, what would it be?” My brain comes straight back with: “I know! Let’s have a nice family dinner, then all relax and watch a film with popcorn!” The thought makes me smile because honestly, how could this lovely idea go wrong?

But no sooner do I get home and share the idea than it all Kicks Off. I have three strong-willed teenagers chez Jupp, all of whom have very different ideas about which food we should eat, which film we should watch and which snacks we’ll enjoy. It’s Pizza vs burgers and Marvel v The Greatest Showman. This mum made the rookie mistake of providing open discussion without any guidance or clear options to choose from.

I’ve seen similar situations when greenhorn managers are assumed to have the chops needed to lead the recruitment process to secure a new team member. It’s often assumed that manager will bring the skills and experience to deliver the results, i.e. an ‘onboarded superstar’ who’ll make a difference to the business, Day #1! 

But when you’re inexperienced, your natural instinct is to avoid making the decision alone. Your instinct is to get lots of people involved in the process. 

The truth is that, without clear guidance, everyone will have a different view of what ‘good’ looks like and what the business needs. This inevitably leads to chaos and, ultimately, an unsuccessful hire. The candidate experience is also poor, which isn’t good for business, brand word-of-mouth, or even socials amplification in today’s fiercely competitive talent market.

Here’s my six simple tips on how to prep your recruitment team for success:

Step 1: Dream Big

• Discuss with the Line Manager exactly what they want. What objectives will the new recruit be expected to deliver in the next 3-12 months?

Step 2: Get Granular on Ideals

• Dig deeper. What skills and experience would said newbie need, to then be successful in the role?

Step 3: Analyse Existing Culture and Dynamics.

• It’s got to be a fit. What would (and wouldn’t) work well when adding a person to the mix?

Step 4: Consolidate and Allocate

• List these down and agree who’ll cover off what parts of the interview process.

Step 5: Share / Streamline

• Share information via a collaboration tool (I Recruitee or Workable) to make sure there’s no repetition.

Step 6: Finalise.

• Agree on who’ll make the final decision.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how many people are involved in the process – although, never forget that pace is also important, and the more people involved, the more drawn out the process. 

What does matter is a clear, structured approach and an understanding of what we’re trying to achieve.

I probably ought to take a leaf out of my own book the next time I think about having quality family time! So:

• What snack choices.
• What takeaway options. 
• What three films to pick from.

When chaos looms, majority vote rules!

When you want to find out more about overseeing a successful talent acquisition process, let me know.

<p>The post How many people should be involved in a good recruitment process? first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Pulling Your Hair Out? Check these guided options first.

You’ve done it! You’re a company that’s finally secured your business investment. You’re ready to unlock your next phase of growth. If you’re anything like other scale-ups we’ve worked with, your focus will now likely include the holy trinity of product development, sales, marketing and recruitment.

Whatever your key priorities, you’re going to need to have the right people on the bus.

On the face of it, your options seem somewhat limited or vague. They probably involve paying expensive placement fees.  So what’s on offer?  To date, you’ve likely relied on your own network, recruiting some members of the team yourself and asking people you know – peers, mentors, existing team members – for recommendations (we know a founder who hired a future customer-success star after she’d provided great service at a petrol station!). 

You’ve likely had some wins (but also some challenges) working with agencies and maybe used a head-hunter for the odd senior hire.

With the scale, range and pace of hires you need now, what are your options?

Option 1: DIY

AKA: The In-House Default

PROS: You might take a step-on from doing this personally. Hiring a Head of People or Recruitment Manager can be an economical route.

CONS: In those three-six months post investment there’s too much to do and too much time pressure for one person (or even a small in-house team) to deliver. It’s especially true in today’s market: simply posting adverts won’t work. You’ll have do a lot of ‘courting’ of the right talent, with a clear message on why your business is right for them.

NB: Don’t forget to take account of your own time spent managing the process.

In Summary: DIY seems the most straightforward option in cost and simplicity but beware the pressure it puts on you. Your leadership team and in-house team will be swamped with requests.

Option 2: Recruitment Agency

AKA: The Off-The-Peg Outsource

PROS: You’ll discover varying agencies to work with depending on their specialisms eg. digital marketing vs software developers, making you rigorously clear internally about your short- to mid-term requirements.

CONS: You’ll need to build and maintain several relationships, which can be time-consuming. It’ll also inevitably draw out the hiring process.

NB: Just because an agency is ‘specialist’ in a field, it doesn’t mean those candidates are available when you’re recruiting or that they’re a good culture match. Culture and values trump skill set every time.

In Summary: Agencies are definitely an option but there’ll be a lot of time spent managing and briefing them.  Their drivers are on placement fees; they’ll get bored if the role proves harder to fill than expected.

Option 3: Executive Search / Headhunting

AKA: The Specialist Hire-By-Hire

PROS: This approach was traditionally used by larger corporates for their C-suite. More recently it’s used by smaller companies, so it can feel like an upgrade.

CONS: However, this can be a costly approach and again, it will mean you have to manage multiple relationships.  

NB: In today’s market, all recruiters should be using search techniques in their process. Posting ads alone won’t cut it. Candidates want to be courted and are more clear than ever about what they look for from a company of choice – and believe me, there’s lots of choice in the market for good candidates at the moment.

In Summary: Choosing an executive search partner for more senior hires is a good option but if you could find a partner that uses this approach combined with other techniques, you cover all bases.

Option 4: The Talent Acquisition partner

AKA: The Dream One-Stop Shop

PROS: A personalised service that’ll oversee your entire company structure. We strategize with you and together we create the most robust structure possible for now and to take you forward as you grow at pace. Then we get hiring using our myriad of contacts, tools and techniques and decade-long expertise.

You won’t have to wrangle lots of recruitment processes (whether in-house or farmed out, this is always tough to stay on top of). We’ll develop them and embed them into your process for you. Standard commercial terms don’t align agents’ motivations with your goals.

CONS: This approach succeeds if our values are aligned – and that means we have a ‘people first’ mentality. Our razor-sharp focus is on recruiting and building processes that only focus on getting the right people on the bus.  If you as a company or you as a recruit aren’t quite right, we’ll say: “Thanks” and “Goodbye”. It’s not personal and it means no-one has had their time wasted.

NB: We exist to take ownership of recruitment, and we know we’ve done a good job when we’ve left you ready to take it on yourself, with the most effective people, recruitment processes and tools you need.

In Summary

I set up Talent Gateway because I saw that ‘normal’ recruitment providers aren’t fit for the unique needs of high growth companies during the post-investment ‘spike’ in hiring requirements. We understand how your hires underpin the next phase of growth. 

You’ve come so far on this difficult journey – now the real work begins! Whichever route you take, all the very best of luck to you. 

<p>The post Four options for post investment recruitment first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Prepare

We know just how hectic the workday can get, especially in the throws of making new important hires. It’s easy to only think about the interview 5-10 minutes beforehand but be sure to come prepared; ‘winging it’ won’t get you very far. 

It’s important to have a clear framework for your questions, as a clear structure and process ensures consistency and clarity during the interview process, saving you time in the long run. We suggest 5-7 competency* based questions as the maximum you’ll want to cover during a 1-hour interview.

*competency – Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable and improve the efficiency or performance of a job. 

Manage your time 

While business is likely to be as frantic as always, it’s important not to cover too much in a single interview. Within your structure, try to think about not only the questions, but the time it takes to reflect and provide a ‘good’ answer from the right candidate. 

We know it’s tempting, but squeezing in that meeting or discussion 5 minutes before the interview only works to set you back, not lighten the load. Commit to the interview and its importance; it’s more valuable than you think.

This is something that is often unconscious and happens to the best of us; it’s easy to like people who are like us, it’s in our nature. They might like the same sports, like the same clothes, come from the same place as you, go on holiday to the same places… and suddenly the casual conversation is dominating the interview and you’ve been driven entirely off-piste. 

Avoid bias

Some small talk is fine, but you’re here with a purpose, so make the time count. Stick to your structure and do your best to remain focused and unbiased.

Keep notes

We know this might sound stuffy and a bit like overkill, but it will show that you are engaged in the interview; that you are interested and listening. Not only that, jotting down notes of your observations throughout the interview will help you remember important aspects. 

It’s all too easy to forget things even directly after the interview when you jump on to addressing something else that needs your attention. Additionally, it might be useful to attach a short time window after each interview to capture any additional observations or points of note.

Be consistent

In the interview process, consistency is king. Know what you’re looking for before the interview has started. Talk to your colleagues/teammates beforehand to establish ‘what good looks like’ in your company/team. Ensure you follow the same framework for each interview, and ask the same questions. 

Most importantly, rate each candidate against each of your criteria consistently. It’s no good looking for different things in a candidate that is at odds with each other. Trust the process, and your consistency will reward you with the best possible candidate for the role.

Be careful

This comes back to unconscious bias; jumping to conclusions and making judgements too quickly only works against your otherwise hard work and preparation. Keep a level head, and have probing questions to follow up on initial responses, as this helps develop a deeper insight into each candidate.

It’s all in the preparation – Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.  Give this part of your talent acquisition process the time it needs to deliver great results.

<p>The post 6 Tips for interviewing success for scale-ups first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Scaling up your business means requires careful planning to ensure that you have the necessary ingredients to enable and support growth including funding, the right systems and process, staff, technology and partners. 

Arguably the most important factor to effectively scaling up your business is your recruitment strategy; ensuring that you hire the right people or the right roles, and that they deliver the right outcomes at the right time.  Irrespective of where a company is in terms of its lifecycle, those that have a great people strategy in place, retain their best employees, and as a result accelerate the speed of their success.

The hiring process can be time-consuming and costly, so how do you develop a recruitment strategy that meets your business’ needs, doesn’t break the bank?  Here are our top tips:

Develop your Employer Value Proposition

Understanding and articulating why someone should work for your business is fundamental to successful recruitment. A strong employer brand will build your reputation and attract candidates to your business, but you also need a strategy for each role to ensure you market to the right people.

Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) serves as a living, breathing reality of your company’s corporate values. setting out what makes your company attractive to work for. It’s made up of a set of characteristics, features, and values that describe what it’s like to work in your organisation and how it improves employees’ lives.   

According to Gartner a well-crafted Employer Value Proposition can increase the commitment of your new hires by 50%.

It’s also an effective way to demonstrate the opportunities in a role and where it differs from your competitors. Crucially candidates can see if they are a good fit, saving time in the recruitment process and ensuring you attract the right people.

Download our guide to developing your Employer Value Proposition

Use technology to simplify tasks and for increased efficiency

Recruiting can be a labour-intensive process however there is a wealth of technology which, when used appropriately, can enhance the applicant experience and ease the administrative burden.  Tools such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and video interviewing can be used to enable you to refine searching and recruiting processes, and in screening and deploying employees effectively.  

Be conscious that an over reliance of technology in the recruiting process can make it feel much less personal and may be off-putting to some candidates.

Hire for now AND the future

When your company is experiencing fast growth, focus on hiring employees have the potential to make a significant impact in the long-term. The best scale-up recruitment strategies aim for recruiting future leaders who can be the pillars of your growing company.

High impact hires are likely to be intrinsic to the success of your business, with specialised skills and unique expertise that make them very difficult (if not impossible) to replace.  These are the positions that will generate results for your company, whether it be through revenue, strategy, delivery, or another important area of the business.   High impact hires also have the capacity to inspire others, in turn boosting your company’s productivity.

Research from Bain & Company suggests that inspired employees are the most productive.

Consider your company culture

When you’re hiring employees to scale-up your business, keep in mind that you’re also shaping the future culture of your organisation.  The scale-up phase of your company’s growth is critical when it comes to culture formation, so keep important factors like inclusivity, transparency, and your mission and values in mind when recruiting candidates.  Culture is the key ingredient that creates sales, builds lasting relationships with suppliers, and motivates employee engagement in the success of your company.  Ideally you will hire people that share your energy and vision for what’s to come, which will ultimately improve employee engagement and retention.

Seek out expert help

If you’re struggling to develop and implement an effective scale-up recruitment strategy, you might wish to seek out expert support; this can be especially helpful, for example, if you need to fill highly skilled, niche roles.   

It is worth remembering that, even where you do engage with a recruitment agency, you will need to work closely with them to make sure that they understand the job and person specifics and your requirements, and give them feedback on the candidates they’re bringing to you.

Scaling up is challenging, and to do it successfully you need a great team that you can rely on to get the job done. If you are a scale-up looking for support to grow we can help; we are experienced at working with scale-up businesses like yours, assisting with everything from defining your EVP to developing your talent management strategy.  Get in touch.

<p>The post Recruiting to Scale Up your business first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

Branding, by definition, is a marketing practice in which a company creates a name, symbol or design that is easily identifiable as belonging to the company. This helps to identify a product and distinguish it from other products and services.  In the wider sense It is the emotional and psychological associations that a person makes with your business, product or service.

Whilst we are all familiar with brand, you may not realise that your company has a second brand, related to its primary brand, which is how you’re viewed as an employer. This is your employer brand, which lives and breathes in the minds and hearts of your former, current, and future employees, and is the basis of how you market your company to desired job seekers.

 In today’s increasingly competitive job market, a positive employer brand is critical. Without one, hiring and retaining the best employees can be both becomes challenging and expensive.  Everything from the salary and benefit packages you offer, to career progression opportunities, the on-site coffee shop, the culture of your company and the way employees are treated can all impact the impression you’re trying to make on potential candidates.

As with all branding, creating a strong employer brand is about good storytelling, considering how you want your organisation to be perceived and using specific messaging to attract the kind of employees you’re looking for.

Done well, employer branding will spark buzz around your company, and this buzz will attract motivated job seekers and an army of happy employees. In turn those people will broadcast their positive experience to other open talent, clients, customers, and stakeholders — further broadening the scope of your employer brand.

If you would like support identifying and articulating your employer brand to enable you to recruit the best candidates, we can help. Get in touch.

<p>The post What is your Employer Brand and why is it important for your Business? first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>

#Growthhacking – what is it and why do I need it in my business?

Test. Learn. Repeat. The life of a growth hacker.  But just what is growth hacking and should it form part of your marketing strategy?

The rise of the growth hacker

We recruit for a lot of marketing roles and have seen a real shift in the types of roles and skills that are now in demand.  For a long time, marketing was first and foremost about building a brand with big budgets to run offline and online campaigns.  Success was measured by the increase in sales but beyond that, marketers had little understanding of who their customer really was and what impact their marketing was really having.  Analytics and data were left to other departments and marketing focussed on creative ideas that they hoped would win customers over.

Jump to the present day and marketing has exploded into a diverse range of specialisms and niche roles – driven by increased competition, innovative and ambitious start-ups looking for cost-effective marketing solutions and the rise of technology and, more specifically, social media.

Growth hacking(sometimes called performance marketing) is one area that is shaking up the way marketing is done and, which as the name suggests, focuses on growth.  Borne out of the need for starts-ups with a high growth strategy to establish themselves in the market with minimal marketing budget, growth marketers are now in huge demand.

What do they do? 

Growth hacking takes advantage of the breadth of data all around us to analyse, experiment and optimise to build an in-depth understanding of who their customers are, what they want and increase engagement. Primarily associated with using social media and viral marketing, they are able to have an impact on a business quickly and efficiently.

The result is powerful insights that can help drive significant growth.  Growth hacking/Performance marketing has built a real momentum as it can be applied across any business size or sector.

Growth hackers/performance marketers don’t work in isolation – you need a solid product and some understanding of your target audience.  They work across marketing, sales and data insights to drive this growth.  Growth hacking compliments existing marketing and measures success at a much more granular level.  From click-through rates and average lead close rate to customer satisfaction and retention – growth hackers deliver specific measures of growth[1].

Does it replace more traditional marketing?

Growth hacking certainly sounds appealing delivering high growth with limited budgets and time.  But it doesn’t replace more traditional marketing all together.  Growth hacking focuses on the quick short term and experiments to test market response.  They key to successful growth/performance marketing is to focus on a breadth of marketing to deliver longer-term growth.

It is an exciting time to be in marketing – the diversification of this rapidly evolving field provides a whole range of different ways to engage with customers and help businesses to grow.  But they all work together and complement one another too.  There will always be a place for more traditional marketing together with exciting new areas as data becomes ever more available and valuable.

Is it only for B2C companies?

No! Growth hacking can be applied to both B2C and B2B organisations – from online start-ups to large corporates.  The driver will be different i.e. it may be about initiating a phone call rather than getting a customer to purchase from a website but the principles behind getting your intended client to take that action is the same.  Just as B2B companies need to market themselves, growth hacking can be used to better understand the target audience journey and how to maximise impact.

I’m convinced, how do I start?

There is a plethora of tools available to instantly implement hacks, but growth hacking is a specialist field.  It is not just about the implementation, but being able to analyse and refine to achieve the required growth.  A good place to start is reading articles on growth hacking and consider signing up to a crash course to understand the basics.  Beyond that, if you are looking to make growth hacking a key part of your marketing strategy, recruiting a growth hacker is the best way to achieve results quickly.

Want to understand the benefits a growth hacker could bring to your business, or are you a growth hacker looking for your next meaty role?  Why not give us a call to see how we can help.

[1] https://www.coxblue.com/the-top-7-metrics-a-growth-hacker-watches-and-you-should-too/

<p>The post Are you still wasting money on marketing agencies (without anything to show for it)? first appeared on Talent Gateway.</p>