StartUp Hiring

Scaling Product Teams with Zendesk's Former Director Erica Wass.In this episode, I sit down with Erica Wass, one of Australia's most respected product leaders and Former Director of Product at Zendesk. We dive deep into the art and science of building product teams that actually drive business outcomes.What we cover:The 3 C's every product manager must demonstrate (beyond technical skills)Why hiring the "perfect" PM might be costing you 2.5x their salaryHow to lead distributed product teams across impossible time zonesThe critical question every PM should ask before joining a startupWhy AI is happening FOR product managers, not TO themCommon mistakes startups make when hiring their first product teamKey insights:How remote leadership can create more authentic relationshipsWhy product managers need to be strategic, not just tacticalThe importance of treating hiring like product-market fit for candidatesHow to balance speed vs. quality in startup hiring decisionsErica brings over 15 years of product experience from companies like Bloomberg, Zendesk, and now as a consultant helping scale-ups build world-class product organizations. Whether you're hiring your first PM or scaling to 100+, this conversation is packed with actionable insights.Timestamps and links in the comments below.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and Erica's background03:15 - Evolution of product hiring across startup vs enterprise07:30 - The shift from feature factories to strategic product management12:45 - Balancing speed vs perfect hire in startup environments18:20 - The 3 C's: Capability, Customer Curiosity, and Communication23:10 - Leading distributed teams across time zones28:45 - The pizza call story: Remote leadership lessons32:20 - Common startup hiring mistakes and how to avoid them37:50 - Aligning product hires with founder expectations42:15 - The critical question PMs should ask before joining startups45:30 - Hiring retros and continuous improvement48:45 - How AI is changing product management52:00 - Closing thoughts and where to connectConnect with Erica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericawass/

Daragh Kan has been the first product manager at not one but two fast-growing startups — Me&U (formerly Mr Yum) and Cuttable. He’s built products under pressure, scaled alongside founders, and brought a deep sense of user empathy from years running his own hospitality venues.What I like about Daragh’s perspective is how much of it comes from actually doing the job, not in theory, but in the mess of real-world complexity. He’s made big product bets, worked through early hiring chaos, and found ways to bring structure without slowing teams down.

Navigating Startups: Insights from Moving to Apple at 17 and Founding a BusinessIn this conversation, James Dale shares his journey from a 17-year-old intern at Apple to founding his own business. He dives deep into the challenges of being a young founder, the importance of quality hiring, and the sheer amount of work required beyond one's main discipline. James reflects on the excitement and stress that comes with startups, offering valuable advice for anyone looking to join or start one. He also emphasises the evolving landscape of technology and the crucial role of customer feedback in product management. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a tech enthusiast, this episode is packed with insights on navigating the startup world.00:00 Meeting James Dale: The Early Days00:22 James' Journey to Apple00:35 Challenges of Being a Young Founder01:03 Moving to the US and Personal Growth01:53 The Apple Internship Experience03:25 The State of Tech Education04:54 The Role of AI in Tech Careers06:03 Founding a Consultancy Business08:08 The Reality of Startups12:15 The Importance of Good Hiring10:19 The Importance of Work Processes14:50 Meeting Efficiency Rules16:51 Onboarding New Hires19:45 Effective Feedback Strategies23:08 Hiring Mistakes to Avoid26:07 Advice for Aspiring Startup Employees28:25 Conclusion and Hiring AnnouncementsContact James:  / james-dale  https://fridaytechnologies.com.au/Welcome to StartUp Hiring — the home of better hires, better businesses, and better jobs.If you’re building a team or thinking about joining one, you’re in the right place.This channel is for founders, operators, and curious job seekers who want to get hiring right. Not just fast hires, good ones. Not just dream jobs, real ones. We talk to the people who’ve done it: early-stage founders who’ve made high-stakes hires, candidates who’ve landed roles without ticking every box, and teams who’ve figured out what works (and what doesn’t).Why? Because hiring is the highest-leverage thing you’ll do. And bad hires are expensive in every way.We dig into the how. How people are getting hired, how founders are building small, sharp teams, and how AI is changing the whole thing. If you're trying to level up your hiring or career (without the fluff), hit subscribe.Good people want to work for good leaders. And like attracts like.So the best hires don’t come from a clever ad or a flashy employer brands, they come from great clarity, process and teamwork. For more 🎙 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://readstartuphiring.substack.com/ 🌐 Visit the website: https://startuphiring.com.au/🔗 Connect with Simon on LinkedIn:   / simonstartuphiring   📘 Join the Facebook page:   / startuphiring  In and amongst creating this sort of content, I still personally help businesses to hire through my Talent Consultancy, Crew Talent Advisory. So if you need to hire one person or a whole team, hit me up for a chat.🌐 Visit the Crew website: https://wearecrew.io/I’ve been an in-house recruiter at Zendesk, MessageMedia and most recently at Cuttable. I’ve sat in the pods with teams doing the building, in interview rooms with hiring teams and on more video calls than I can remember.

When Ben Mostafa joined MessageMedia, he didn’t know what a CTO was. By the time he left, he’d been one. Over nearly ten years, he helped grow the company through different phases of scale, infrastructure-heavy tech, product-led SaaS, major user growth, and acquisitions. Along the way, he hired ICs and engineering leaders, built high-performing teams, and adapted his own leadership style.What I like about Ben’s perspective is how grounded it is. He’s technical, thoughtful, and clearly values people who take ownership, ask questions, and work well in ambiguous environments. The throughline in everything Ben shared was ownership. Whether you’re a new engineer or a senior leader, the people who thrive in startups are the ones who take responsibility for outcomes — not just tasks. They run toward problems, not away from them. “Your job won’t be what it says on the tin. Startups need people who can pick things up, get curious, and figure it out.”-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome to StartUp Hiring — the home of better hires, better businesses, and better jobs.If you’re building a team or thinking about joining one, you’re in the right place.This channel is for founders, operators, and curious job seekers who want to get hiring right. Not just fast hires, good ones. Not just dream jobs, real ones. We talk to the people who’ve done it: early-stage founders who’ve made high-stakes hires, candidates who’ve landed roles without ticking every box, and teams who’ve figured out what works (and what doesn’t).Why? Because hiring is the highest-leverage thing you’ll do. And bad hires are expensive in every way.We dig into the how. How people are getting hired, how founders are building small, sharp teams, and how AI is changing the whole thing. If you're trying to level up your hiring or career (without the fluff), hit subscribe.Good people want to work for good leaders. And like attracts like.So the best hires don’t come from a clever ad or a flashy employer brands, they come from great clarity, process and teamwork. For more 🎙 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://readstartuphiring.substack.com/ 🌐 Visit the website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonstartuphiring/🔗 Connect with Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonstartuphiring/ 📘 Join the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/startuphiringIn and amongst creating this sort of content, I still personally help businesses to hire through my Talent Consultancy, Crew Talent Advisory. So if you need to hire one person or a whole team, hit me up for a chat.I’ve been an in-house recruiter at Zendesk, MessageMedia and most recently at Cuttable. I’ve sat in the pods with teams doing the building, in interview rooms with hiring teams and on more video calls than I can remember.

$3bn +. That's the deal value that Paul Perrett has overseen as a leader, making him without doubt one of Australia's most successful B2B SaaS leaders. In this video, you'll learn how Paul thinks about the power of hiring the right people, why he still thinks that people are the number one asset of any business and how his approach to hiring and leading has evolved over the years.Paul’s perspective is built on reflection. He’s done the work. He’s made hiring mistakes. And he’s honest about what it takes to build trust in small teams, how leadership changes over time, and why clarity about goals, fit, and style matters more than everPaul is a leader who’s not afraid to jump in, get his hands dirty, and unblock his team when it counts. But he also knows when to step back and let others lead.“There’s nothing more powerful than quietly unblocking something for someone, even if no one else sees it.”That sort of leadership builds trust. It’s not loud. But it compounds.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome to StartUp Hiring — the home of better hires, better businesses, and better jobs.If you’re building a team or thinking about joining one, you’re in the right place.This channel is for founders, operators, and curious job seekers who want to get hiring right. Not just fast hires, good ones. Not just dream jobs, real ones. We talk to the people who’ve done it: early-stage founders who’ve made high-stakes hires, candidates who’ve landed roles without ticking every box, and teams who’ve figured out what works (and what doesn’t).Why? Because hiring is the highest-leverage thing you’ll do. And bad hires are expensive in every way.We dig into the how. How people are getting hired, how founders are building small, sharp teams, and how AI is changing the whole thing. If you're trying to level up your hiring or career (without the fluff), hit subscribe.Good people want to work for good leaders. And like attracts like.So the best hires don’t come from a clever ad or a flashy employer brands they come from great clarity, process and teamwork. 🎙 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://readstartuphiring.substack.com 🌐 Visit the website: https://www.startuphiring.com.au 🔗 Connect with Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonstartuphiring 📘 Join the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/startuphiring In and amongst creating this sort of content, I still personally help businesses to hire through my Talent Consultancy, Crew Talent Advisory. So if you need to hire one person or a whole team, hit me up for a chat. https://wearecrew.io/I’ve been an in-house recruiter at Zendesk, MessageMedia and most recently at Cuttable. I’ve sat in the pods with teams doing the building, in interview rooms with hiring teams and on more video calls than I can remember. You can get me at simon@startuphiring.com.au or 0459 59 22 01

Welcome to Start, Scale, Grow - the ultimate destination for technology companies looking to level up their hiring game. Whether you're just starting out or well on your way to becoming a major player in your industry, we've got you covered. In each episode we'll bring you insights and actionable tips from the people who’ve done it, to help you find, hire and retain the best talent possible in the competitive world of tech. We've all heard the saying that good people want to work for good leaders and that like attracts like. Ask any recruiter or talent acquisition pro and they'll be able to tell you about times when candidates have gushed about how good a hiring manager is when debriefing after an interview. Good quality leaders help you thrive by not just being good at their individual jobs but also because they build high-performing teams, and that's what we all want right?In this episode, I chat to Dan Mottau who has extensive experience in developing and coaching leaders. His insights are brilliant and watch out for the moment when I tell him that this episode was better than I expected 🤣Find Dan here https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmottau/ Big ticket items:2:23 The difference between leadership and management - the conflation. Procedural elements = management. Living personal values & how you show up = leadership5:00 Being a leader of yourself. Start there. Lead yourself, lead a team, lead a business.11:00 Many organisations are playing catch-up when it comes to leadership. We often promote people to leadership roles and then train them, not the other way around.13:30 The terror of running your first one on one. 15:09 The sense of reward and recognition is different between an I/C and a leader. Immediate vs delayed. The feedback loop is longer. This doesn’t sit well with our brains. 18:10 The best leaders create the conditions of success.21:14 The power of the silent achiever - does aspiration for leadership equate to leadership quality. It’s up to the individual to express and show their values to the business. Whether it’s overtly or otherwise.25:44 Our careers are ours to own - a football coaches wisdom, transfers to the business world. 27:15 Dan gets asked, “how can I be more extroverted?” frequently. He talks about leveraging your own “superpower”.31:10 Leaders attract or repel great talent. People always ask “whats in it for me?” when changing jobs. The number one answer to that is great leadership and growth opportunities. 33:10 Your direct manager/leader has more impact on your mental health and well being than your partner! Intuitively we know this, so the responsibility is on companies to think deeply about the quality of leadership they both hire and develop.35:30 The capabilities and strengths of a great leader pre-covid are no different to know. The difference is that you can’t fake it when you operate in a hybrid or remote setting. In person you can hide behind charm and charisma. This can’t really be done at distance. 41:15 Do companies invest enough in developing their leaders?43:30 “The forgetting curve is brutal” - our brains can only take so much information. Dan explains. 47:10 The best sporting teams have a sporting philosophy and hire to that philosophy. This means that the team doesn’t fall apart when a key player leaves, because the philosophy remains. This also breeds high-quality succession plan. 55:00 Dans reaction to “this was better than I expected” 🤣------ Social ------💡 Crew Blog » https://wearecrew.io/blog/🏆 Carrer Page Awards » https://wearecrew.io/the-alfies/Regardless of where you are on your journey, we can help. https://wearecrew.io/contact/👍 Facebook » @CrewTalentAdvisory🦜 Twitter » @WeAreCrewTalent👩‍💼 LinkedIn » Crew Talent Advisory

In all walks of life, trends drift in and out of popularity. Recruiting is no different. For years, personality profiling was a large part of many companies hiring processes. As the battle for talent got fiercer, hiring time became more important. Companies needed to move quickly for in-demand talent that had plenty of options. Personality profiling started to become seen as a friction point, something that slowed competitive processes down. But there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in this space over the last few years. The rise of remote and hybrid teams has forced many companies to rethink how they go about hiring but also how they better understand the people who join them. Leaders have needed more tools and personality profiles are increasingly being (re)seen as a way to do this.I spoke with the Managing Director of The Myers-Briggs company in Asia Pacific to learn more about personality and cognitive assessments and their use.3:26 - The MBTI is about giving people a language and model around personality types so that we can better understand each other and ourselves.6:40 - Mitigating the risk of poor hires. Some people just interview well and sometimes the pressure of hiring quickly can impact quality. Profiling can help you make the best decisions possible. It can validate what you think you already know or open the door to some other avenues to consider.8:55 - Balancing our own Some people interview well but then again some don’t. Profiling can help mitigate bias and level out our perceptions of a candidate away from the interview room. 11:14 - Cognitive ability & Cognitive agility. Cameron explains the differences and what they actually mean. 12:40 - Timing. Cameron shares his thoughts on the best time in the hiring process to run profiling? 15:14 - Training. Bringing the capability in-house, training your own people to use the tools. 20:40 - Post Covid. Have client's requests changed in a Post Covid world due to remote and hybrid working? Some assessments can uncover the amount of sociability someone might need for example. 25:10 - Onboarding - Including assessment feedback as part of the onboarding process can help build trust, identify opportunities for development and highlight strengths. 27:10 - Discussions around Psychological Safety have increased over recent years. Personality profiles can help develop this in a remote/hybrid work setting by better understanding people and teams. 29:00 - The loss of incidental interactions that remote/hybrid work has brought us can impact psychological safety. Purely transactional dialogue can be draining. 31:15 - There’s a danger of over-reliance on subjective decision-making. This is why gathering as many data points as possible is so important. 34:05 - Building high-performing teams, leaders might need to think about what else they can be doing to build more trust in their remote/hybrid teams. 37:40 - Furry Invasion. My cat drops in to say hi and looks very happy to be there.36:45 - Employee surveys - learning and development is high on the list, profiles can help develop these opportunities. Find Cameron on LinkedIn -   / cameronnott  Some Myers-Briggs reading on high-performing teams - https://au.themyersbriggs.com/themyer... 🔔 Subscribe for more Talent Acquisition & HR insights like this: http://bit.ly/3sKF2rC

In this episode, Jason Atkins the Co-Founder and President of Cake Equity shares his insights and demystifies the world of staff equity. From tax breaks to staff engagement, there are so many benefits to doing this, and it's not as difficult as you may think.Cake is 5 years old and has over 150k equity holders on the platform in 80 different countries. They're the definition of an Aussie tech success story. The big ticket items 👇🏻2:15 - what is equity? A term for the ownership of a company.6:15 - the impacts on founders of going down the equity share route. Founders technically own less, but the flip side is that they can attract, engage and retain better people and teams. 9:43 - The impact on strategy and culture of equity ownership. Founders need better tools for managing this. 13:55 - There are two types of value in employee ownership. The cash value, and also the day-to-day value. The alignment between leadership and employees who are working together to build brilliant products and companies.16:30 - There are clear productivity gains in employee-owned businesses over more traditional business models.18:15 - Clarifying the terms “Vesting period” and “Cliff”.21:14 - There are tax implications to this. Employees NEED TO DO THEIR OWN CHECKING.21:49 - Offering shares/options to international employees. A way to fully embrace the distributed team model. There can be complications for both the employer and the employee, but it is possible. (Luckily Cake can help with this 👍🏻)25:10 - Why wouldn’t a business go down this path? There are cultural and business inputs needed, it needs to be a part of your day to day culture. If this isn’t for you, then don’t do it. 26:30 - Startups, under 7 years old have some clear tax advantages to doing this, so it makes sense. Older businesses dont have this and there can be complications around going down this route.28:19 - The difference between RSU (Restricted Stock units) and Options. Established businesses generally go down the RSU path, Start Ups go with options.31:40 - This isn’t as hard to roll out as people may think. Thanks to Cake 🍰 Pretty much every ESOP plan they’ve seen has been incomplete in some way.34:43 - The organisational debt around trying to do this manually carries too much risk. 🤯 The Cake platform removes this debt, so why wouldn’t you? (Shameless plug 👍🏻)🔔 Subscribe for more Talent Acquisition & HR insights like this: http://bit.ly/3sKF2rC------ Social ------💡 Crew Blog » https://wearecrew.io/blog/🏆 Carrer Page Awards » https://wearecrew.io/the-alfies/Regardless of where you are on your journey, we can help. https://wearecrew.io/contact/👍 Facebook » @CrewTalentAdvisory🦜 Twitter » @WeAreCrewTalent👩‍💼 LinkedIn » Crew Talent Advisory------ Crew Talent Advisory ------We have a range of recruitment services to suit any stage of your business’s evolution because humans aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal (if they were there’d be no need for adjustable baseball caps)------ Customer Testimonials ------🎬 MessageMedia: https://youtu.be/JlRl9yuTaCg🎬 Xplor: https://youtu.be/vObszKdYsDQ🎬 Ippon: https://youtu.be/-Wp4fgxHaRE

In this episode, Alana Bennett discusses the challenges of building and maintaining connections in a remote/distributed workforce. We’re all humans. And like most other mammals we are social beats. We thrive on and need connection. Covid, Post Covid hiring blitzes, tech sector layoffs, workers feeling commoditised, how do employers manage this?Alana describes this in two ways.1 - Connection intensity. The depth of connection we have with each other. 2 - Connection frequency. How often we need to connect.The hardware of connections used to be offices. Meeting rooms, offices, corporate kitchens. The software of connections is what we need now. This is the leadership and toolkit that businesses need.Communication - workshop ideas amongst your teams and have them design the framework for what remote or hybrid work would look like. Having their engagement and involvement could be the key to making this work for everyone.Some simple things you can do to foster some kind of connection👇🏻User guides - asking your team members to put together a user manual for themselves. How do they connect best, how do they best receive feedback, how do they work to their best.Storytime - asking team members put together a simple slide deck about their life story so far (obvs voluntary) where they talk through their journey. Understanding people's backgrounds helps you understand why they are like they are. This can only be a good thing, right?Is there a role for someone to manage internal communication?Is your employee/employer relationship more like parenting or partnering? They're two different things. Find Alana here:https://connectedexperience.com.au/https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanabennett/

Meqa is the owner/founder of the Unforgettable agency. She's on a mission to help companies stop employing people and start enrolling them. In this episode, we discuss how we all want to feel part of a tribe, how to inspire people to go the extra mile, leadership's role in hiring and the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.Big ticket items: 1:00 Employment mindset VS Enrolment mindset 1:50: Why is it so hard to recruit people? Hammers & Nails = we think that tactical issues hold us back. Mainly because that’s where we always seem to start.03:53: Starting from a place of self-awareness. If we understand how people operate, including ourselves, then maybe we can make better hiring processes and decisions.07:10: Employment is a relationship. Between you and your boss, the company. Do we all just accept that work sucks?09:40: How do we hire people smarter than us, when we still hire in a very transactional way? Extrinsic VS Intrinsic motivations.15:25: Motivation as a skill in job ads? Do people want to be motivated or inspired?21:00: LinkedIn data shows that job tenure is 1.6 years on average, does this highlight the fact that employers are missing something?24:47: Have we developed a lexicon around hiring and job seeking that we don’t really understand? A meaningless, vague language that we all use?27:25: It’s easier to inspire when you’re a big brand or not changing the world? What do the “normal” businesses do?32:40: We’ve all had a WTF moment after starting a new job. The disconnect between expectation and reality. 34:40: The emotional contract of employment. The hidden contract that we all know is really there.37:35: The undeniable link between recruitment and performance.Find Meqa at:m@unforgettable.agencyhttps://unforgettable.agency/https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmeqa/

»»» Matt Woodard is a mainstay of the Australian Talent Acquisition community. With close to 2 decades of experience hiring for leading technology companies and now running his own business, Scalr, we thought he might be the best person to ask, What The F&@k is a Talent Strategy?It's a catchphrase we hear used a lot but like a lot of them, there's some ambiguity around what it actually is. Luckily Matt was able to help decipher it all for us..Matt business Scalr - https://www.scalr.com.au/Matt's linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwooda...This episode comes complete with a soundscape exclusively delivered by our bathroom renovation happening two rooms away. Enjoy 🔨 🪚 🗜️The big-ticket items 👇🏻 03:08 - What actually is a Talent Strategy? The talent strategy should support the business strategy & what the business is trying to achieve. The talent strategy provides the headcount required to deliver this business strategy. 11:05 - Where does a business start with a TS? - The talent strategy identifies the key hires, the competition & the market forces affecting the talent team's ability to deliver the strategy?14:29 - This stuff’s easy! Why can’t all businesses do this? - They can, but it takes someone to actually lead it. 16: 40 - The Recruitment Codex (not Helix Matt 👍🏻) - A visual representation of all the things that recruiters do and need to consider.24:38 - You just need to start somewhere - It’s easy to get overwhelmed but like all things, you just need to start and not worry about perfection straight away.30:45 - What other things tie into an effective talent strategy? - Communication back into the business about the market. Leaders need to understand the market nuance, don’t leave it till the last minute, keep ongoing dialogue with the business. Continue to look at your own strategy, is it still fit for purpose, have things changed internally or externally. 32:23 - It’s not a static plan - It shouldn’t be, things change, your plan may need to aswell.------ Social ------💡 Crew Blog » https://wearecrew.io/blog/🏆 Carrer Page Awards » https://wearecrew.io/the-alfies/Regardless of where you are on your journey, we can help. https://wearecrew.io/contact/👍 Facebook » @CrewTalentAdvisory🦜 Twitter » @WeAreCrewTalent👩‍💼 LinkedIn » Crew Talent Advisory------ Crew Talent Advisory ------We have a range of recruitment services to suit any stage of your business’s evolution because humans aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal (if they were there’d be no need for adjustable baseball caps)------ Customer Testimonials ------🎬 MessageMedia: https://youtu.be/JlRl9yuTaCg🎬 Xplor: https://youtu.be/vObszKdYsDQ🎬 Ippon: https://youtu.be/-Wp4fgxHaRE#hiring #talentacquisition #talentstrategy

With over a decade of software engineering exp Adam has been through interview processes with several big-name tech companies. He’s got some great thoughts and opinions on what things stand out as really positive and what could be done better. If you’re an engineer who’s thinking of the next role or someone who hires software engineers, you’ll find something useful in this discussion. The big ticket items:02.00 Why do you think everyone has an opinion about recruiting?- The recruitment process is often an extension of the personality of the people who are actually hiring.- We ask people to be themselves, but they’ve also been taught to sell themselves - there’s a conflict there somewhere.06:00 What things stand out to you positively or natively in an interview you’ve been involved with?- One of the interviews I did with Zendesk, the hiring manager was friendly and gracious. - He clearly approached the interview looking for positive signifiers, reasons to hire not reasons not to hire.- We could do with more space in interviews for vulnerability. We want perfect alignment with arbitrary company values. I’ve never read them on a webs site and said yes that sounds like me.- Front-load interviews with an acknowledgement that this is an awkward conversation - have empathy for the situation. - The ROI for making candidates comfortable in an interview is immeasurable15:25 What could engineers do better in interviews?- Don’t focus on purely the tech being used.- You owe it to yourself to do more digging into the team, the company, and how they make decisions under pressure, other than just the pure tech stack. - Focus on being problem solvers, not just chasing the next thing,- Focus on developing skills outside of pure coding.23:30 What can we do about coding tests?- Making the technical part of the process as inclusive as possible. - Provide options - take-home test, online test, in-person test? Some people really struggle in person and others vice versa, providing options allows you to see the best of people because they can be comfortable. 29:55 What’s the ideal hiring process do you think?- More shorter sessions or fewer longer sessions?- 2 -3 steps seem to work really well for most people and companies.- Team debriefs are so important.- Does the “pub test” theory just help you build a homogenous team?

Matthew Clements is a "responsible steward of capital" ™️ AKA VP of Growth at Budgetly. Ker-ching 💰With 12 years of sales and 6 years of leadership experience, Matthew brings a wealth of experience in the tech space. He's grown sales teams in the B2B & B2C space and in this episode, he shares thoughts on early-stage hiring and sales in general.Matthew mentions the book Drive by Daniel PinkBig Ticket items:4:30 When growing the first sales team, you can’t just hire 10 salespeople and 10x your target.6:18 - You’d rather have your team drowning in leads as opposed not having enough & sales tech stacks.9:15 - Sales metrics & dashboards14:15 - Understanding clients problems 15:30 - Finding the budget to solve problems.17:30 - Hiring for attitude?19:03 - A lower probability of underperformance.20:30 - Managing a remote sales team.24:40 - Andrew not Chris.27:10 - Cold call terror.33:35 - Sales Targets and results on resumes?🔔 Subscribe for more Talent Acquisition & HR insights like this: http://bit.ly/3sKF2rC------ Social ------💡 Crew Blog » https://wearecrew.io/blog/🏆 Carrer Page Awards » https://wearecrew.io/the-alfies/Regardless of where you are on your journey, we can help. https://wearecrew.io/contact/👍 Facebook » @CrewTalentAdvisory🦜 Twitter » @WeAreCrewTalent👩‍💼 LinkedIn » Crew Talent Advisory------ Crew Talent Advisory ------We have a range of recruitment services to suit any stage of your business’s evolution because humans aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal (if they were there’d be no need for adjustable baseball caps)------ Customer Testimonials ------🎬 MessageMedia: https://youtu.be/JlRl9yuTaCg🎬 Xplor: https://youtu.be/vObszKdYsDQ🎬 Ippon: https://youtu.be/-Wp4fgxHaRE#hiring #talentacquisition #talentstrategy

Catherine Toms is one half (some would say the best half) of The Toms, a digital marketing consultancy that helps marketing teams to cut through all the noise in an evolving and shifting market.As an ex-recruiter she brings a unique insight into both worlds and actually works with agencies to think like marketers. “When a business takes a product or service to market, they are trying to clarify who their target market is and how they can best communicate why their product or service is the best. Recruitment is like this in the fact that the “customer” is a potential employee. Essentially there’s a huge synergy between the two”We’ve seen a big shift in the broader marketing world that the recruitment sector could benefit from following. Marketing talks about the customer, but most recruitment marketing talks about the business. 4:58 - Does a strong consumer brand benefit your employer brand? Or is it potentially a curse?There may be recognition of the brand but also perceptions that may not be true.The things we want from an employer are different to what we want in a service or product. 7:50 - How does a brand protect itself if it’s been through a round of layoffs? Across all sectors there seems to be uncertainty at the moment. People get a general sense of nervousness, what we find is that people who are looking to move are looking for genuine growth. Think about the questions that potential candidates may have. “If I’m last in, am I first out?” Etc. Brands need to be able to address these authentically and purposefully.11:58 - How would a company actually do this in real life? Think about FAQ’s on a careers page or Linkedin company page. Sharing what you can in public is a great thing to do. Have your hiring managers well prepared on how to answer these things in an interview.16:34 - The winning formula is when the impression a job seeker gets when they read an advert is then reinforced at interview, at onboarding and then through the tenure of employment. 17:35 - Recruitment needs to get more like marketing in the sense of getting more conversational. Particularly with things like job ads and the language we use. 19:20 - We’ve seen a big shift in the broader marketing world that the recruitment sector could benefit from following. Marketing talks about the customer, but most recruitment marketing talks about the business. 22:54 Conference bashing! Most corporate merch is Tat? “Bright minds and bushy attitudes” rule. 25:09 Write like you talk. You’re only ever talking to one person when you write job ad copy26:31 Data driven research on B2B marketing. 5% of any market is in buying mode at any time. Most companies only ever target them, not the other 95% Recruiting teams should be focusing on the 95% to build familiarity and trust for when they move into buying (moving jobs) mode.27:12 If we only ever appear on people's radars when we have a vacant job, we become very transactional. Because most people aren’t looking for jobs right now. We need to talk to people out of the market. Familiarity breeds confidence, we’re more likely to create this through consistent content. 29:26 Know, like, trust. How do you get your target audience to feel this? Via content that is valuable, interesting and informative. 32:15 Employee Advocacy can be massive for a brand and also quick and easy to create.33:56 Supporting social issues. Don’t bring cupcakes for IWD, talk about what you’re actually doing. Trust and credibility are everything.Links:https://www.thetoms.co/https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine...https://www.marketingscience.info/

Engineering Leader Lauren Grimes talk to us about the challenges and fun of early-stage hiring The Melbourne success story that is Xplor was the first role where she was responsible for hiring and not just a participant. Now she’s in a new start-up, and she’s applying the lessons she’s learnt from early stage, fast growth hiring and sharing them with us.4:54 Outside of tech skills, we looked for people who could go on a journey. People who were flexible, hungry to learn, growth mindset, could jump in and take ownership. The skills were secondary. As your business grows and evolves, so can they. Challenge opinions but no huge ego’s.08:10 situational questioning. Not just screening for the good things but checking on less desirable traits.11:00 When I discovered why I disliked the standard technical interviews. Real world examples of what the team is focusing on. The importance of posing scenarios and asking the candidates opinions14:00 You don’t really know until they start. My experience of the impact of mis-hires on an early-stage team. Mishiring can come at a cost of time, effort and obviously money. It doesn’t have to be a 100% negative thing but it will have impacts.17:00 Collaborative decision making is empowering. The importance of having your team involved in interviews. They bring their own experiences and viewpoints to share with the candidate. They also grow their own interviewing skills. 22:50 Do I like this candidate as a person? A good way to think about people.30:00 The joy of watching a new hire blossom and grow in a role. 30:55 Advice for people hiring in an early stage now or soon. Hard tech skills are just not enough. In 6 months' time they may not be the right person for you anymore. Get the right types of people not a list of skills. Self-motivation & resilience are so important.35:43 The insecurity that comes with a lot of startups is still better than having a “normal” job. 37:20 Big takeaways = Think through the human and tech skills you need, the importance of collaborative decision-making, embrace diversity (don’t hire more people like you), and find someone who can step up and replace you.

When we say that Sam Robb is a StartUp hiring veteran we don't mean that he's 65, we mean that he's been through several fast-growth StartUp journeys. His experience with organisations such as A Cloud Guru, My Yum and now EQL mean that he's got solid operational knowledge to share and some real-world lessons we can learn from.In this discussion, he shares his thoughts on blending pragmatism and the desire to move quickly with the need to stay true to best practice hiring. How do you coach new hiring managers?Do all new hires really need to buy into the mission?Do candidates from other StartUps make the best hires?We talk through these and other questions.

In this episode, Talent Acquisition leader Mitch King shares his insights into StartUp hiring. When he joined a scrappy startup called Linktree that had a simple yet big idea, he couldn't have imagined growing the business from a handful of people to over 300. And that along the way, Linktree would raise ~$165m and go on to unicorn status. We talked to Mitch and got his opinion on several topics, including; On transparency in hiring. “My standpoint on this and it will always be my attitude I think is, the more transparent you are, the more likely you're going to get the right fit but and that goes both ways”   On changing market perceptions. “Around series B I think from memory that round was about $45m and it just shifted the perception in the market of what the product was, who we were & how serious to take us”   On the reality of startup life. “Some people are really unsuited (to the startup world) and you could tell sometimes by questions. I remember a few people would go through the interview and they say something like “Okay,  what's a 5 year career development plan for this role” and I’d be thinking that we don’t even know what the next 5 weeks holds for us all”   On hiring in competitive markets. “You know product designers, engineers & product managers were getting multiple offers a week (so) you had to adjust your process. There wasn't time to schedule a calibration meeting for you & your hiring managers. So there's a lot of Slack chasing and politely asking, many times, for people to move quickly.”

Welcome to today's episode (the first!) of Start, Scale. Grow, where we delve into the crucial aspect of hiring for startups and businesses of all sizes. Interviewing is a vital aspect of building a strong team, but it can be challenging, especially when starting out. How do you know what to look for in a candidate? How do you determine a good fit quickly? In this episode, we sit down with Caitlin Fairchild, who has extensive experience in exactly this when she helped to grow Xplor from 30 to 2000 employees. Together, we discuss the important elements of interviewing, including what to look for, how to define a good fit, and how to do it efficiently. So join us as we explore the art and science of interviewing and how it can shape the success of your business. Let's get started!