Follow the Yellow Brick Road
My adventure with WP Fastest Cache started two years ago. I came here as a recruiter, with a shared belief in the founders’ philosophy of building a fantastic core of engineering. That was the first milestone on our way as a team on the yellow brick road.
The heart of the product is where the talent is. The journey starts with technology and ends with the desired candidate. You need to bring both of them together in unconventional ways. That is exactly where your talent hacker comes in.
Talent acquisition is the front end of the company. Your marketing guy, your best salesman and your pixel perfect focal point. This means that sourcing and hiring responsibilities need to be clearly assigned to one individual and that the work involved in hiring is treated as an exercise in continuous improvement, much like engineering or product development.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore… “
Our environment is rapidly changing. We must make the necessary adjustments just like the storm that took Dorothy to the land of Oz.
When you get in touch with a potential employee, you have to be like a vine video; fast and smart. You have to know the candidate and the product. You have to connect the two.
“There’s no place like home”
As a Talent Hacker you have to bring home the best experts in their respective domains. You have to own the knowledge, be agile, understand the road map, and know the product and the vibe of the company. You are part of the vibe and you control the fine tuning. Recruitment branding is a crucial key factor, both inward and outward in the industry.
My motto as a Talent Hacker is: “ I don’t want you to fall into that recruiting black hole where you apply for a job and never hear anything back. I want to get to know you, whether there’s a current opening or not.” The network effect creates a circumstance that allows us to regularly meet interesting talent, even if it’s just for coffee.
“In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians” -The Witch of the North
Once the infrastructure is ready, the connection with the candidate will be sharp and the engagement will be immediate. Remember, you are not a superhero, but you sure need to adopt a similar state of mind. The bar is high and you need to have your creative ways. Think bigger, faster and stronger. The hire is not an ending point, though. It’s an ongoing process. You always need to be on the lookout for the best available talent.
“If we walk far enough,” says Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to someplace.”
The road is long, regardless of the level of complexity in the position you are looking to hire. From an algo data driven dude to a supreme leader of your production zone, stay focused with your goals and on the technology requirements. I feel that passion for your product, talents and vibe is the essential fuel that drives your and your company’s success along the way.
When you get the right talent, the satisfaction is higher than you could have ever imagined.
